GATLINBURG, Tenn. — As families continued grieving those killed in the East Tennessee wildfires, others who call Sevier County home faced a loss of a different kind.
WREG stood in the entry way of what was one woman’s home.
Her valuables, pictures, and memories were burned to ashes.
Glenna Bjorklund said, “I’m numb. I can’t feel. I’ve been numb for three days because what am I going to do?”
It was a question Bjorklund wished she had answers to after watching her entire neighborhood burst into flames nearly a week ago.
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“When I opened the doors it was right here on us, and we had to run for our lives,” Bjorklund explained.
She escaped with a few of her pets but nothing else.
“And then I had a living room, a kitchen, two bedrooms,” Bjorklund said.
The 76-year-old is forced to speak in the past tense as she showed WREG her property.
“I had about $2,000 in Christian music, videos, Charles Stanley, Bibles, Bible books. That’s my — and pictures. Family pictures is what I miss the most,” Bjorklund said.
Her box spring was twisted, stove charred, and she didn’t recognize much of her property anymore.
Firefighters rushed to put out hot spots at the edge of Bjorklund’s driveway as trees and power lines continued falling around the city.
The woman– known to everyone around town as “Granny” — who lives miles away from her family, is dealing with the damage on her own.
“It breaks my heart. You know it would. It would break anybody’s heart,” she said.
Bjorklund will never know what it is like to sleep in her bed or cook in her kitchen again.
She was already struggling to get by and is now starting over at square one.
“I won’t ever forget this. I never can build back. I will never be able to build back. That hurts. That hurts,” Bjorklund said.
Bjorklund did not have home insurance.
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