Family's Home Burns Early Thanksgiving

One family finds themselves without a home this Thanksgiving.  Flames wake up one couple in Catoosa County just after midnight.

It's one of the worst ways to wake up on a holiday - to a smoke alarm.  But that's what happened to one family on Jacobs Road Thursday morning.  Now, they're just thankful everyone is okay.

The insulation of this house now lays outside, and from the window of the front door, you can see straight through the whole home.  Flames greeted the family who lives in the home early this Thanksgiving morning.

Dave Bowling lives across the street.  "I just feel terrible for them, they've been neighbors for several years and they were pretty much in shock."

His wife woke him up around 1 am when she saw the flames.  "There were police cars, ambulance, and fire engines trying to get to the fire hydrant in the front yard."

Neighbors say smoke quickly filled the home and the couple actually had to escape out of the window after being awakened by the smoke alarm.  Bowling says, "All I saw was a lot of smoke and when the firefighters went in and opened the door, a lot of smoke came out for a few minutes."

We talked with the homeowner who tells us they're fine, along with both their pets.  Fortunately, their child was staying with a relative.  We're told both he and his wife were supposed to spend this holiday working, serving others.

The man who lives in the home works as an emergency responder himself.  Bowling says just a few hours later the homeowner was scheduled to be working, "On the ambulance that was actually sitting out in front of his house."

A house that sits empty and gutted this holiday.  "It looks like there's quite a bit of damage to the house."

But, despite what was lost, for the family that made it out, there's still reason to celebrate this Thanksgiving.

The homeowner says they did have insurance and are spending the holiday with family who lives nearby.

There is no word on what might have caused the fire.