BRANTLEY COUNTY, Ga. – “Lucky” Phillips lost nearly everything when the Highway 82 Fire ripped through Brantley County two weeks ago.
We first met her a day after the fast-moving fire destroyed dozens of homes, mostly in the small communities of Atkinson and Waynesville.
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Phillips said “99%” of the homes on Brushy Creek Road and Gallberry Road, where she lives, were destroyed.
“We grabbed our animals and ran,” Phillips told News4JAX shortly after the blaze. “My heart felt like it dropped....I got in and out, and so look at me now. I’m here. I am safe. I am alive.”
And now, she has hope.
Neighbors and community volunteers coordinated to surprise Phillips with a camper so she can stay on her property as she rebuilds. They put it right where her home once stood.
“I cried the whole time Sunday,” Phillips said of the day she receieved the surprise. “I had a bunch of people rolling in, like y’all did. And next thing you know it, I see this black truck hauling in the camper.”
Phillips, who is still sifting through the rubble on her property, says her old mobile home was too old to be insured, and she’s one of many victims who did not have home insurance.
She has a GoFundMe to help replace essentials.