Kylie Watson wrote "I'm hungry" on a dry erase board from her hospital bed, pastor Tim Burden said. Burden said the 11-year-old girl's father, Chad Watson, is also making progress at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
"They have nothing," said Burden, who is pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Central City. Chad Watson "drove a $1,500 truck, and I'm being generous with that. We had to give him a jump every time he got ready to leave the church."
planning to hold a candlelight vigil for the nine victims on Friday evening. Burden said the family was renting the home and had no insurance and no funds to cover the cost of funerals. Chad Watson worked a paper route in the early morning hours and then went to a construction job after that.
Shortly after the fire began, Harvey, chief of the nearby Graham Volunteer Fire Department, heard the call and rushed to his neighbor's burning home. He met Chad Watson and his daughter in the road, and he took them to a neighbor's house.