Staff Photo by Randall Higgins/Chattanooga Times Free Press
The Woodward family received winter coats Friday at Oak Grove Elementary School from state Rep. Eric Watson’s annual winter coats project, Principal Teddy Bryson, in green shirt, and, on right, Bradley County School Board Chairman Troy Weathers.CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Danny and Valerie Woodward woke up two Mondays ago to flames and smoke sweeping through their small East Cleveland house.
Danny Woodward tried to beat the flames out, but they had too much of a head start. His wife got three small children out of harm’s way, outside into a driving rainstorm. Their three other children already were at Oak Grove Elementary School.
“I tried to put it out. After it caught onto the bed I went in to get the rest of the kids out,” Danny Woodward said. “I went back in, but I couldn’t get it to go out.”
Valerie Woodward said that as her husband was trying to put the fire out “he told us to get out. I picked up the kid (a toddler) and the two were right behind me and we ran out to the road.”
Firefighters later told the family a blanket apparently had been too close to a kerosene heater.
Suddenly a family of eight, just weeks before Christmas, had nothing but the clothes they were wearing and their lives. Their puppy died in the fire.
help in full swing
On Nov. 29, Oak Grove students carried a letter from school about the fire home to their parents. People mobilized. Not only the school community, but some merchants, churches and strangers offered help to the Woodwards.
By Friday, the effort to bring Christmas cheer to six little kids — Leslie, Samantha, Thomas, Collins, Nicole and Emily — was in full swing.
Gary Harris, a volunteer with the Hiwassee Chapter of the American Red Cross, went to the scene.
“They were very upset, of course,” Harris said. “It was a great tragedy.”
He has been there himself. Ten years ago, Harris said, he lost everything he owned, not to fire but to a medical injury. Becoming a Red Cross volunteer is his way of giving back, he said.
Michelle Hammond, a Red Cross staff member, also went to the home.
“The family was standing on the stoop of a porch of a house next door,” she said. “Two of the children were wrapped in a blanket, standing looking at the house. The father was devastated and shocked. My heart just went out to them.”
Troy Weathers, Bradley County school board chairman, alerted state Rep. Eric Watson, R-Cleveland. Long before he entered politics, Watson began an annual Coats for the Cold drive for children of low-income families. He doesn’t accept money for the charity. Instead, anyone can drop off a new or good-condition coat at the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office, Village Tire on Third Street or the county trustee’s office at the courthouse.
Watson came to Oak Grove Elementary on Friday with coats for everyone in the family.
“It could have happened to any of us,” he said. “This could be my family. This could be your family.”
“Bad things happen all the time,” Oak Grove Principal Teddy Bryson said. “They all need our help. But sometimes one just reaches out and touches everybody’s heart.”
One classmate gave one of the Woodward girls a stuffed puppy to replace the dog they lost in the fire. Other children already have some Christmas gifts in the works.
A family came to donate possessions from a loved one who died. The woman had said in her will not to sell her belongings but to give them away.
A man who went to Oak Grove in 1972 and had faced the same circumstances came by to give back, remembering the generosity shown to him.
A local industry called the school Friday to adopt the family for Christmas. A business that accidentally received a faxed copy of the letter to parents donated $200. Church groups have pitched in, too.
The Woodwards are receiving donations of clothing and small household items as they get back on their feet. People have come by the school with cash. Bryson said some of the money is on gift or debit cards — for later use.
The rubble will be cleared away, Danny Woodward said. His father has a double-wide mobile home that will be moved to the lot.
“They are great,” Valerie Woodward said of the community’s response. “They are amazing, that’s for sure.”
Contact staff writer Randall Higgins at rhiggins@timesfreepress.com or 423-314-1029.