DOVER, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – It was a night Brian Hlynosky will remember for the rest of his life, and thanks to the courage of his 17-year-old daughter Abbigayle “Abbi,” he has so much more of that life to spend with his family.
On March 6 at about 12:15 a.m., the smoke alarm went off in their home on Lakeshore Drive in Stewart County, west of Clarksville on Highway 79. Abbi was awakened in the loft of their home. When she first woke up, she had taken in a deep breath of smoke.
Abbi ran downstairs to her father’s bedroom where he was asleep, with their three dogs. Hlynosky was wearing a CPAP machine and said because of that, he couldn’t smell the smoke, and he didn’t know the house was on fire.
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Hlynosky said they came out of the bedroom with the living room full of smoke and the whole front of the house, including the front door, was engulfed in flames. As Abbi ran out a side door and called 911, Hlynosky grabbed his two wiener dogs, Ruby and Banjo, and told his Chihuahua-mix Steven to come and follow him out.
Steven was an older dog, and Hlynosky said he must have gotten scared and ran back in the house. He sat the two wiener dogs down outside and ran back in the house to get Steven, and the other two dogs followed him back in. Hlynosky said there was so much smoke, he couldn’t find Steven, so he picked up the two wiener dogs again, and ran back outside. Steven was lost in the fire.
“Had Abbi not responded as quickly as she did, had she panicked and ran out of the house, had she done anything differently, you and I would not be having this conversation,” Hlynosky said. “She jumped right up, grabbed her phone, came down through the smoke, and woke us up and saved us.”
Losing everything in fire
He said they lost everything in the fire, which started around an electrical outlet. That includes all of their personal belongings and all three of their vehicles. Everything was insured, and the family is working with the insurance companies to start the rebuilding process. Brian and Abbi have been staying at the Dover Inn Motel and Cabins, who have shown their support.
“We’re alive, Abbi is a hero, and we are just happy to be alive,” Hlynosky said. He also praised the Stewart County community, saying everyone has been fantastic. “The whole community has come together. We have food, we have shelter, and we have love from the community,” Hlynosky said.
Hlynosky is a retired U.S. Navy veteran who said he moved to Stewart County five years ago to be near Abbi. Hlynosky’s wife, Jerolyn, was out of town at the time caring for her ill mother in Michigan.
To help the family, Midway Pizza at 961 Highway 79 is organizing a raffle ticket fundraiser on Sunday, March 30, from noon-5 p.m.
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