(SANILAC COUNTY) – Several families have left the Thumb area and traveled south for Spring Break this week.
Many head to the beaches of Florida, others to the Ocean on the East Coast while others, like Doug Moran and his family, traveled to the Great Smokey Mountains area near Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
While enjoying their trip to the mountains, Moran, Chief of the Port Sanilac fire department, said his family woke up Wednesday morning to amber alerts on their phones to a fast approaching wildfire in the area of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge areas.
The fast moving fires are burning as close as five or six miles from his family’s cabin. The family said they could see the fire, whipped by strong winds, Wednesday morning from the driveway of their vacation cabin and were following evacuation recommendations.
During an interview with Sanilac Broadcasting Wednesday afternoon, Moran said they were waiting to see if they were going to be allowed back to their cabin or be evacuated until the fire danger passes.
Able to find some humor with the situation, Moran said the wildfire is something not normally seen in Sanilac County. When asked if, like any good firefighter, he had a Plan B for the incident, Moran again chuckled and said, “No!”
He said at one point of their adventure, while enjoying the 80 degree weather, they had ash from the fire falling in to their vehicle some 20 miles away from where the fire was burning.
Moran said officials were hoping a line of storms approaching the area would sweep over the area being burned and help firefighters knock down the flames.
Without a doubt, this has been a Spring Break trip the Moran family will remember for a long time.
