A driver identified only as Casey was following a GPS route that sent him down state Highway 114 south of Lyerly in Georgia's Chattooga County when he spotted smoke rising from a house in the distance. He arrived as the sole first responder to a blaze that would consume the home of James and Larita Burke, a couple whose household at the time included 11 children and 1 grandchild — some adopted, some in foster care.
James Burke told Local 3 News that he had fallen asleep in his recliner on Saturday night and awoke to a stranger in his living room urging him to evacuate. "The next thing I know, some guy was telling me in my living room, 'Hey, you've got to get out of here. Your house is on fire,'" Burke said, speaking to Local 3 News.
Burke recounted that Casey had never traveled that road before and sensed something had drawn him there. "He was on the wrong road. His GPS put him on the wrong path. He's never been down that path before, and he said he knew that something was bringing him down that road," Burke told Local 3 News, adding, "[W]hen he saw the fire from the top of the hill; he knew he had to take action. I'm so thankful that he did."
Working alongside his son and Mr. Burke, Casey helped wake and evacuate all of the children as the fire destroyed the entire house and two cars, leaving only cinders and charred beams. The blaze also claimed two vehicles, which were reduced to burned-out shells.
Many of the children have since been placed in other foster homes. Despite the total loss, Larita Burke said community support arrived immediately and in overwhelming volume. The Burkes, who have fostered children for years, have seen 500 children pass through their home at some point — voices and laughter that now exist only in memory after the fire.
The family is now searching for a rental unit large enough to house all 14 of them while they rebuild. Some brick walls of the original house survived the blaze, providing a foundation for reconstruction.
The episode underscores the unpredictable nature of emergency response in rural areas, where a single passerby can become the difference between life and tragedy. For the Burke family, a stranger's navigational error proved to be the right turn at the right moment.
