My name is Summer Franklin, i am from Tampa Fl, and have started this gofundme in hopes of replacing some of what i lost when the fires in Gatlinburg burned down my family's home. The funds i raise will be for me to replace my personal items, as they were not insured. Anything helps, please dont hesitate to donate because you only have a small amount to give. I appreciate anything more than you all know. Here is my story: While I was visiting my mom and brother for thanksgiving at our home in Gatlinburg we fell victim to the wildfires. On Monday, Nov 28, we were told if the fires came near our home we would be notified and evacuated, but they got so out of control that nobody could keep up with how fast they were spreading. I had a flight home earlier on that evening, but was unable to get to the airport due to a tree that had fallen down and was blocking our only route down the mountain, being in a small car, there was no getting around it. So at that time, about 6pm we returned home and I planned to try and catch a flight out the next day. up to that point, there was no fire that we could see anywhere just lots of smoke and very high winds, extremely fire friendly conditions. we returned home flustered and scared, and just wanted to relax and be at peace. So we were all watching television, my mom and I upstairs, my brother downstairs. None of us felt right, we now suspect that we had toxic levels of carbon monoxide in our systems, we all felt kind of out of it. Although we hadn't seen any fire, we had been breathing smoke all day and it was building in the house as the fires got more out of control. The fear was building inside of me, something was telling me we were in danger, but nobody called, there were no emergency alerts on our phones. As I laid on the bed, trying to stay calm as the house was creaking and moaning from the pressure of the 80+mph winds on the glass doors and windows. Just as I thought they were going to give in, something caught my eye through a window on the opposite side. What looked like a maple leaf blew by with the outside edges glowing, like they would if it had been in contact with fire. I ran to the sliding glass doors that led out to the porch and opened the drapes, and to my undescribable horror, the back yard was engulfed in flames. We're on a mountain so, our backyard is a steep downward slope, the fire was just working it's way up towards the base of our house. Around the same time my brother downstairs saw it, and called my mother and I. When we realized the fire wasn't only this way in our backyard, but it was surrounding the house on all 4 sides, we knew we had no time to pack anything so we all grabbed a few of our most important possessions. we looked for our precious cat everywhere and were unable to find her, but time was running out, we HAD to go. The fire was closing in so fast, and breathing the smoke was becoming unbearable. I couldn't imagine feeling any worse, and then I opened the front door and just the heat and the amount of smoke that poured in, it felt like an oven out there. I thought in that moment that we definitely wouldn't get out, I just kept wondering why none of our neighbors had called or tried to warn us, but I suspect that they were overtaken just as quickly. We ran downstairs and jumped in my mom's pick up truck. We literally couldn't have lived without that truck. Driving down the road was terrifying because it's so narrow, and at certain points there are drop offs but the visibility was so poor we couldn't tell where they were. The surrounding wilderness was engulfed in flames and the smoke made it impossible to see where we were going. We passed so many peoples homes on fire, some still had cars in the driveway and we suspected people inside, but there was no time to stop and see or try to help. In two cases we encountered trees that had been blown down by the hurricane speed winds, we had to drive over them, after attempting to jump out and realizing we couldnt breathe, and certainly couldn't move a tree, we just drove over them. I thought back to earlier in the night in my brothers car, if we hadn't had that truck we couldn't have escaped this fire. We thank God with all our hearts, we escaped the fire. Barely, if even two more min had gone by, my family and I would have died in that house. We are so grateful to be alive, but our hearts are broken, my grandfather bought this house over 25 yrs ago, and built on to it, and bought properties surrounding it.. his heart was really in this place. When this home was passed down and became my mother, Kathy Shields property, we were so excited and eager to make it our new home, as we had finally decided to see our home in Tampa. I still have an apartment rental in tampa, but was getting ready to move out and move into the mountain house. My mom and brother were already living there, so they lost all of their personal items. I had began bringing my things up there, all of my valuable jewelry my father had bought me is gone, most of my clothes, my purse, all my cosmetics, my video camera, my performance hula hoops (sounds silly but the LED one was several hundred dollars), and so many other things I couldn't list them all. By far the most devastating loss was our cat, my heart literally breaks again each morning when I realize we failed her. I just pray she didn't suffer too much. Thankfully my mother had insurance on our home, but it can only replace so much of what we lost, and cover my mom and brother to get a rental for the time being. If anyone feels led, I could definitely use some help replacing my personal items, clothes, etc. thanks to all for your consideration, just writing this has been an emotional roller coaster, if anyone can't give money we are just as grateful for prayers. please please pray for our family.