The Tri-Community Fire Department is asking for donations after firefighter Gary Blevins’ home burned down

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) – The Tri-Community Fire Department is collecting clothing donations after one of its own firefighters lost his home to a fire Wednesday morning.

Gary Blevins returned to his home around 11:30 a.m. when he saw it on fire and called 9-1-1. The fire department arrived a few minutes later, but it was too late.

It took them two hours to put out the fire. Firefighter Aaron Curtis says that by then the house was just bricks and a roof.

“We’ve had several residential fires this year, but I can’t remember one that started so quickly,” Curtis said. “This is the only one I’ve ever seen collapse and burn so completely.”

Not a single property survived the fire.

Gary and his wife Amy had lived in the house together for seven years. But his connection to the property goes far beyond that. Gary moved into the house in 1999 with his now ex-wife, who had lived there since it was built in 1977.

Blevins said losing everything he owned in the fire was almost like losing his life’s work for the family.

“I had to watch the pain in my daughter’s eyes and the pain in my wife’s eyes,” he said. “And I have to try to stay strong for them because that’s what a father does: You stay strong for your family.”

Blevins has been fighting fires at the Bryant Volunteer Fire Station for eight years.

The last thing he, Amy and his 11-year-old daughter expected was for the fire to come to them.

“You never really expect to lose what you have,” Amy said. “Every now and then, in bright sunshine, it happens.”

However, many of the material things the Blevins family lost don’t mean that much to her. What they care about most are things they can’t replace, like family heirlooms and pictures with their children.

“Appreciate the things you have,” Gary said. “Hug your family and tell them you love them because you don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”

All the family is left with are the clothes on their bodies and two dogs, Aurora and Abby, who narrowly escaped the fire. Both were trapped in the fence as the house burned before Gary rushed to open the gate.

Abby was left with singed fur and burnt paws. Amy says the dogs might not have survived if her husband had arrived five minutes later.

Now — just a day after the fire took everything from them — the Blevins are doing their best to move on.

The Bryant community has helped by reaching out to the couple and providing money, clothing and shelter.

The Jackson County Tri-Community Fire Department posted a donation request on its Facebook page Wednesday, asking:

• Men’s shirts (2XL), trousers (36×32), shoes (size 12)
• Women’s shirts (2XL), pants (size 16), shoes (size 7.5-8)

The Blevins have also set up a GoFundMe page and All State Insurance is giving them a year to find a permanent home.

“Me and Gary could be alone with this and have no one to help us,” Amy said. “It restored my faith in humanity.”

The family is staying in a hotel until they find permanent housing.

Although his Bryant estate has been reduced to rubble, Gary has no intention of leaving it for good. He dreams of building a new house to pass on to his family for future generations.

“We will rebuild. We’re going to make things better,” Gary said. “From ashes comes greatness, and from these ashes I will make greatness come.”

Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire.

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