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A broken-hearted Joe Gray spoke with the Grundy County Herald (sister paper to the Tullahoma News) regarding the loss of Greeter Falls Lodge.

“I want our community to know that we love them, and we care about them and that we are sorry for everyone’s loss. This wasn’t just our loss. Our community is so invested, and it loves that place. They were proud of that place. Weddings, showers and church events – so many people that we love used that place. From the get-go, we prayed that God would use that place, and He did,” said Gray.

Through a voice that trembled and skipped, Gray’s tone revealed the pain he felt and effort it took to give the interview.

Gray says the outpouring of support has been tremendous and overwhelming, and he expressed gratitude for the community rallying around them. While the couple would like to thank them individually, that will take time.

“We’ve had hundreds and hundreds of people contact us. There are so many people that we care about so much and who care about us. We just can’t reply right now. We are hoping you [the newspaper] can help us with that. Let them know that we are so sorry that we can’t respond individually to everyone who has reached out, but we will as soon as we can. We care about each one of you a lot. Please don’t think otherwise. We’ve had some people reach out multiple times. I know they just want to make sure that we are OK. We’re devastated by this, but we are OK.”

The cause of the fire, which broke out in the early morning hours of Jan. 22, has yet to be determined. Gray was in Memphis. His wife, Dawn, awoke to the sound of smoke detectors.

“I wasn’t there. She heard the smoke alarm going off at like 5 o’clock in the morning, or something like that. She opened the door and saw the fire and smoke. She grabbed our dog and went outside in zero-degree temperature barefoot and not even wearing a coat. She was in complete shock, but she’s OK.”

Gray credits smoke detectors with saving his wife’s life.

“They saved her life, no question. Without those, this would have been a whole different… [Gray took a few moments to compose himself]. I’m sorry, but I can’t even bring myself to think about that. The lodge is just a building. It was a special building, but it was still just a building. There were a lot of family heirlooms. There were probably 50 to 100 antique clocks of my dad’s and other antiques. We made a lot of furniture on site. A lot from the Northcutt family was in there. That whole thing was a labor of love that we spent years on. None of that can be replaced, but they are still just things. She got out and that’s what matters.”

The interview ended with these parting words:

“I just want our community to know that we are OK, and that we are sorry – not just for us, but for everyone,” said Gray. “We love the people up here a whole lot. We are going to stay here. This is our home. We’ve already talked about it. We don’t know exactly where we are going to live, but we are blessed enough to have some options.”

According to Altamont Volunteer Fire Department, crews battled the blaze for several hours.

“The call went out at approximately 5 a.m.,” said Rebecca Broadway, assistant chief, who says the structure was fully ingulfed in flames before arrival. “Our fireman stayed until 3 o’clock that afternoon. All the mutual aide departments left early, because everyone had to go to work. Those of ours who didn’t have to work stayed until 3 o’clock that evening. By that time, they were exhausted.”

Assistance was received from Beersheba Spring, Coalmont and Gruetli-Laager fire departments.

Harsh weather conditions created issues for everyone involved.

“They had a lot of problems with the weather. Water was freezing as soon as it came out of the truck. Firefighters were slipping on ice. I think we had two firefighters that were injured, because they slipped and fell. One had to go home early because it hurt him so badly. None of the injuries required medical assistance,” said Broadway.

The department is not able to determine exactly where the fire started, but foul play is not suspected.

“It was fully involved up through the middle, which means the fire was centrally locally and that was a big building,” Broadway stated. “It would be difficult to determine exactly the origin of the fire. She [Dawn] was the only one home, and she believed it was an electrical fire. We didn’t involve an investigator.”