LINCOLN COUNTY, Ga. (WJBF) – A local legendary coach and his wife say they’re lucky to be alive tonight, after they woke up over the weekend to their home in flames. 

Brenda Holder says she woke up around 5:30 Saturday morning to the sound of popping. What she thought was hail turned out to be a home fire, with flames reaching several feet into the air. 

She tells us she immediately called 9-1-1. She and her husband, Terry, were able to grab a few necessary items and their two dogs before making it out of the house.

“It’s rough out there seeing your house burn up and all you’ve got is what you’ve got on,” said Terry Holder.

Holder has coached both baseball and football at Evans, Greenbrier and Thomson high schools.

He says it’s been a blessing to hear from former players these past few days.

“Former players are calling and coming by. And some of their parents have experienced a fire themselves and the first thing they told them was, ‘you go down there and get them some shorts and underwear and toothpaste and stuff like that because I’ll tell you right now they ain’t got any and they’ll need it real quick!’” said Holder.

Family treasures and plaques from Holder’s many baseball state championship wins were lost in the fire.

Still, he says the outpouring of love and support from the community has made all the difference for him and Brenda.  

“You know, we got the memories- you can’t take that away from us,” he said. “No fire can do anything about that. We’re just blessed we got out.”

Brenda tells us even the clothes they’re wearing today were given to them by others.

She’s now calling those people her “little village”.

“Love is just coming,” she said. “We had no idea how much everyone would pour on us.”

The Holders are accepting donations at this time. If you would like to support the family, you can send a check to Terry Holder or a Visa gift card to the address below: