A Port St. Lucie couple says the fires in Gatlinburg, Tenn., have left their daughter homeless.
"Horrible. It's horrible," said Fred Boehm. "She told us on the phone that the house is gone."
RELATED: Pictures from the Tennessee fire
A wildfire has caused damage to homes, claimed lives, and led to evacuations.
Fred and Linda Boehm say their daughter, Tracy, had to evacuate her Gatlinburg home Monday night.
“Nobody told her to evacuate, whatsoever,” Boehm said. Tracy decided on her own to escape, Boehm says, when she told him a house at the end of her block was on fire.
"She went around banging on doors telling people there was a fire,” Boehm described.
He says it has been hard to get in contact with his daughter. He says cell phone service has been jeopardized by the fires. He and Linda wait for her to call or text them with updates when she can.
The most recent text they got was Monday night.
“I'm okay mom. Smoke's really bad. You can barely see, the smell is bad. The fire is all around us,” Tracy said in a text.
She called them Tuesday afternoon. Boehm said she left her house with her two sons and pets. Now, Boehm says she is staying in a hotel.
“There’s no home to go back to. That’s scary. She’s got nowhere to go.”
The Boehms are staying glued to their television and the internet for updates when they can't get in touch with their daughter.
They've also called Gatlinburg area fire officials for updates and had the most luck calling news outlets near Gatlinburg.
They worry it will be a tough road ahead for their daughter, and many other people who live in that area.
