Many along the Grand Strand are getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving this week.
Some residents at Barefoot Resort in North Myrtle Beach are also gearing up to celebrate their first big holiday after the April wildfires damaged many homes and destroyed many others.
From the looks of Martha and Tom Thill’s house there’s no telling that a large wildfire came through the area this spring.
“We sometimes talk about it and go, do you realize what happened here seven months ago?” said Mrs. Thill, “I mean you see the video and you see the pictures the devastation that was here was unbelievable.”
The Thills said that though the image of the wildfire is still so vivid in their minds they're looking forward to enjoying their first Thanksgiving in their now cleaned up home.
It took them about 3 1/2 months before they could move in. The fire burned through a large potion of their backyard melting a little more than half of the house siding.
"When we gather around the table this Thursday and we join hands to give thanks...it'll be for what we have survived and how we have accomplished” said Mr. Thill.
He said he used to get choked up thinking about the night the fire ripped through his backyard but this time he said a different kind of emotion takes over.
"If I could thank anyone, I would like to thank the fireman, who saved my house,” Mr. Thill said as he cried, “that's who I'd like to thank.”
"We only lived here for just a little over year before the fire happened said,” said Mrs. Thill, ”so what it gave us was a connection to the community that we didn't have."

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