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Couple escapes Gatlinburg fire during their honeymoon

Posted at 8:30 PM, Dec 01, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-01 22:36:20-05
Fear overcame a newlywed couple as their honeymoon was brought to a halt by flames during the wildfire tragedy in Sevier County, Tennessee.
 
"When we woke up Monday morning, we knew something was off because the view outside of the cabin was really Smoky and foggy and it was an orange color," said Derek Wells.
 
But it was business as usual in Gatlinburg, and no one seemed to be alarmed.
 
"We would check the local news and nobody said anything there was no alert or anything," said Wells.
 
But why wasn't anyone in the area alerted about the approaching flames? The Well's Monday evening took a turn for the worse, when a tree tumbled onto Derek Well's car, and the two were forced to evacuate after a transformer went up in flames.
 
"When we started driving down the mountain that's when we saw how everything around us was on fire. The bottom of the mountain was all on fire and it was coming at us," said Wells.
 
The couple was able to escape with their lives but "Heaven's Gift," a cabin Derek's mom purchased in honor of her dad who passed just one year ago did not withstand the blaze.
 
"And then when he called me to say it was gone, he said it's all gone the whole mountain all of our cabin. I mean there were some beautiful cabins up there," said Marcia Ramirez.
 
The family may have lost Heaven's gift, but they still have each other.
 
"We're so sad to lose the cabin but we are also so grateful and so blessed that it could have been worse," said Ramirez.