Tragic family fire in Bryant, Alabama

Update, January 6: “Shrek,” the dog pictured below, has been adopted by a caring family.  A funeral service for all five victims of this fire will be held Saturday January 9. We are still short of the goal on the GoFundMe page.  If you haven’t already donated, please do so.  Please click here to give. Here is a message from the surviving family members:  

“We would like to give a special thanks to all of the first responders,  fire departments, neighbors, and the Bryant community. Thank you to everyone that has donated to the GoFundMe account and the Cooper/Alexander account at Citizens Bank in Trenton, Ga.  We appreciate those who have donated their time, food & most of all prayers for the family.  All those that have opened their homes to all that needed a place to enjoy the food that was so graciously prepared, to the media for their excellent coverage of our family’s loss, to Ryan Funeral Home for their attentive detail with the 2 children.  Thank you to the teachers, staff and principal at Bryant Elementary School for your kind words and sharing memories of the girls with us.  A special thank you to Jerral Byrum of Scottsboro for digging the grave, and a special thank you to Walmart #3659 employees for the touching tribute to Kimberly Alexander.  Thank you to the many churches that have had special prayers and love offerings for us.  Our family has been amazed by the generosity of our friends, community members and even complete strangers.  We have had heavy hearts the past few days and Carolyn, Kim, Tony, Brianne and Emily will be missed for a lifetime, but the love and support shown to us by each and every one of you have truly been a comfort. 

With much love,

The Cooper, Quarles and Alexander Family

Here are the arrangements.

Family will receive friends from 10 AM until 2 PM EST on Saturday January 9, 2016 at Ryan Funeral Home and Crematory, Trenton, GA.

Graveside services will be held 2:30 PM EST Saturday January 9, 2016 at Bryant Cemetery located on County Road 266, Bryant, AL 35958.

Here is my original story:

This picture really touched my heart.  My friend Natalie Potts is a reporter at WRCB.  She is such a kind, positive person.  She loves people, and they love her.  She also loves animals.  When she was in Bryant, Alabama on Monday, covering the tragic story of the New Year’s day fire, she captured this image.

Underneath the picture, here’s what she wrote about this beautiful animal: “Standing guard over his home in Bryant, where his family of 5 died in an early morning house fire. The family included two little girls ages 6 and 8, a loving mom, dad and grandmother. I tried to love on him but he wouldn’t come, he just stood there crying in pain !!! Please please pray for this poor baby and the surviving family members.”

This is just one of the stories about an unthinkable tragedy.  Bryant, Alabama is where I grew up.  Sunday, the day after the fire, I was back in Bryant for a holiday family reunion, and to visit my parents’ graves, less than a mile from this scene.  I drove to the site of the fire, got out my car, and just stared for a while.  Forty hours after the firefighters responded, there was still smoke rising from the ashes.

I thought about this family, some of whom I knew long ago from school days.  The fire appears to have been accidental in nature, perhaps caused by a fallen heater.  We may never know the exact circumstances, but it is believed most of the victims were in the same room, sleeping. Friends and family members have told us they had just finished celebrating a belated Christmas.

The little girls had just opened their presents.  Emily was in kindergarten, Brianne was in 3rd grade.  They were students at my old elementary school in Bryant.  Their principal, a hometown boy named Lloyd Ellison called them, “Our babies.”  I know he meant it.  Their dad, Tony Alexander was only 42. Their mom Kim Alexander worked in the Walmart I visit frequently on Signal Mountain Road on my way to and from work.  She was only 34, and like most of us who grew up 30 miles away from Chattanooga, she made the long round trip each day.

Kim sure was loved.  Ramona Weiss wrote, “I still can’t believe this. It definitely makes you want to tell everyone as often as possible how much they mean to you. They can be gone at a moment’s notice.” A co-worker, Ebony Champane wrote,”I have several days where I cried to her about having a rough day healing from being broken mentally and emotionally AND SHE WAS THERE to lend a shoulder ear and arms!” And Sandra Roeser wrote, ” The only comfort is they are all together. She was a good friend and loved those babies more than anything.”

Just weeks before, this family gathered for the funeral of Mary Cooper, Kim’s grandmother, and the mother of 63-year-old Carolyn Quarles.  Carolyn also died in the fire.  This family had already endured a sad holiday season, and now those who survive them are planning more funerals, with five loved ones to mourn.

I know what fire chief Jay White means when he says he had never seen anything like it.  Our little corner of the state had not seen a multi-fatality fire in more than three decades. My heart also goes out to those first responders, many of them volunteers from community fire departments.  They too, are mourning.  They are the ones who arrived to find a house engulfed in flames, with no chance to save five of their neighbors; it happened that quickly. While family members and co-workers deal with their grief, please do not forget these heroes too.  This day will live with them forever.

To this date, there has been a good response to the GoFundMe appeal for help with funeral expenses, but much more is needed.  I hope you will make a donation if you can afford to do so.  I really appreciate our Chattanooga area media outlets for covering this tragedy, and helping publicize fund-raising efforts.  Bryant is often forgotten, tucked in the northeastern corner of the state, far away from its county seat, and its closest Alabama media market (Hunstville, 90 miles away).  Due to its location and rural setting, Bryant only seems to make the news in case of storm damage, fatal auto accidents, or tragedies like this.  I’m proud to be from that community, and I hope you will honor my request to help this family in their time of great need.  You may click here to see the GoFundMe page.

Here is Natalie’s WRCB story about the family: