When Matt Allen left his house for work Monday, he could not have predicted that the next time he saw his home, it would be on fire.

Allen, a sales manager at Eckenrod Ford in Cullman, said he received a call from his wife Emilie that afternoon, alerting him that their home on Copeland Road in Limestone County was burning.

“I’ll be honest, at first I was like, ‘Let me know what’s going on,’” he said. “Then it kind of hit me, and I called back and said, ‘I’m on my way.’ I got to about Hartselle, and I called to check on her. She said she was at home and ‘it’s gone.’”

Matt Allen said he moved to Limestone County in 1993. He met his future wife Emilie in 1997, and together they have three children — daughters, Madeline and Zoey, and a son, Gabriel. Their family had lived in the house for the last 20 years.

No one was in the house when the fire started. As Matt Allen neared the home, having driven 45 minutes from work, he still felt a ray of hope.

“I didn’t see any smoke,” he said. “If your house was burning down, you’d think you’d see that, so I guess I still had a lot of hope that everything was OK and there was just a universal gaffe. When I got there, 20 years was gone, and I didn’t handle that real well.”

By the time he got to his house, first responders from multiple departments had come to help fight the house fire. Firefighters from all over Limestone County were on the scene, including East Limestone Volunteer Fire Department and its chief Capt. Tony Kirk, who attends Summit Crossing Community Church in Athens with the Allen family.

Matt Allen said that Kirk was the first person on the scene 11 years ago when a truck ran into the Allens’ house on Christmas Eve, “and he took care of us.”

“When I got there, the first thing he did was hug me,” Matt Allen said. “He showed us love. When it was all over, they had done everything they could. I knew they couldn’t save our house, but I knew what they were trying to do was save our neighbors’ houses and make sure their property was OK.”

Giving thanks

Matt Allen praised the men and women who responded to the scene, saying they were “awesome” for wearing heavy gear in the high summer heat and still fighting a fire. He said he witnessed firefighters throwing up in his yard from the heat in their attempt to battle the flames.

“There was nothing I could do for the house,” he said. “First, I wanted to make sure my wife was OK and find out where our kids were. At that point, as Christians, we are called to be servants. That’s how my wife and I live. We’re not perfect. We do want to be servants.”

So, Matt Allen did what he could and poured ice into a cooler to help the first responders cool off. After the fire was contained, he took time to thank all the first responders on the scene and say a prayer over them.

“It was important for me to thank them, but also to thank my Lord,” he said. “… At the end of the day, God worked through them. I wanted to thank God for what he had done through them, and I wanted to pray over them to make sure, when they came out of this, their health was OK.”

He said he prayed God would bless them for volunteering and taking away from whatever else they had going on.

“I felt the overwhelming presence of Jesus, and I wanted to let them know how special they were to me and my family,” he said.

Matt Allen found out later that support from his community came before first responders even arrived.

He said a neighbor across the road saw smoke coming from the house and came to investigate. The fire is now believed to have begun with an outdoor extension cord on the back deck, and the neighbor grabbed a garden hose to try to stop the fire before it reached the house.

Matt Allen said while the neighbor sprayed the fire, the man’s grandson, a young teenager, ran inside the home to make sure no one was there.

“That’s courage,” Matt Allen said. “I’m a grown man, and if I see fire, I’m like, ‘I’m going the other way.’ He didn’t know us, but when he saw fire, he wanted to make sure no one was in (the house). I think that was awesome.”

Matt Allen said he did not know the name of the young man, but video taken after the fire showed first responders pointing out the young man’s bravery. The unidentified teen and his grandfather were able to safely retreat once they realized the fire was growing closer to the house and a gas grill.

“I just wanted to thank him,” Matt Allen said. “… I wanted people to know what this young man had done — and his grandfather trying to save my house with a garden hose.”

Community support

When Matt Allen woke up Tuesday morning, he said what struck him most was what he and his family had gained — the love and support of many members of the community. He said he had more than 100 messages through text and online reaching out to the family.

A family friend who owns a gas station in East Limestone called Matt Allen and told him he had “a ton” of clothes for Gabriel that his own son didn’t need. Another man handed his daughter Zoey a $100 bill with a request that it be used however it was needed.

Matt Allen said the family had insurance on the home, their living arrangements for now are being covered, and the family plans to rebuild. He said they want to thank everyone who has shown them love and support since the loss of their home.

“We just can’t say enough,” he said. “I just want them to know that not only we love them, but God loves them. … We live in a great community. All those people are just awesome. Thank you so very much.”