Wrong turn by GPS leads stranger to rescue foster family from Georgia house fire

A man named Casey took a wrong turn on his GPS and ended up rescuing a houseful of children from a fire in Georgia. His device had steered him off course and onto State Highway 114, south of Lyerly in Chattooga County, when he noticed smoke in the distance.

The blaze was at the home of James and Larita Burke, a devoted couple who foster and adopt children. Eleven children and a grandchild were inside, some of them adopted and the rest in foster care.

Mr Burke had nodded off in his recliner on Saturday night. The next thing he knew, a stranger was standing in his living room, telling him the house was on fire and he had to leave.

Casey had never driven that road before. Mr Burke said the man told him he felt something had drawn him that way, and that the sight of flames from the crest of the rise left him in no doubt that he must step in. “I’m so thankful that he did,” Mr Burke said.

Casey found himself the only first responder at the scene. Working alongside Mr Burke and a son, he helped wake the children and bring all of them out of the house.

The fire went on to consume the whole building and two cars, leaving little but cinders and charred beams. Many of the children have since moved to other foster homes.

Mrs Burke said the support from the local community arrived straight away and has been overwhelmingly generous, even though the family lost everything. Over the years, 500 children have stayed with the couple at one time or another.

The Burkes are now searching for a rental property big enough for all 14 of them while the house is rebuilt. There is a small crumb of comfort in the wreckage, since some of the brick walls withstood the fire.

Why it matters

A house fire can spread quickly, and people asleep indoors may have precious little warning, so a stranger raising the alarm can be the difference between a close call and a tragedy. Here, one person’s quick thinking meant every child got out. The story also shows a community rallying round a family that has opened its home to hundreds of children and is now receiving some of that care in return.