The All Saints associate pastor was on his afternoon run in Cleveland when he spotted the flames
By Bill Brewer
Job No. 1 for a Catholic priest is to save souls as he celebrates the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and administers the sacraments, primarily the Eucharist.
There are occasions when priests are called on to save lives, too.
That is just what happened to Father Michael Willey on July 30. The associate pastor of All Saints Parish in Knoxville was taking an afternoon run not too far from St. Thérèse of Lisieux Church in Cleveland, where his family lives, when tragedy struck and divine intervention stepped in.
Father Willey, with a decided air of modesty, agreed to share his story after considerable prodding by All Saints pastor Father Doug Owens and others.
“Not all superheroes wear capes,” Father Owens said.
In this case, he happens to wear vestments most days and in his spare time tennis shoes, running shorts, a T-shirt, and a smart watch.
Father Willey explained that on his days off he likes to visit his family in Bradley County and go whitewater kayaking on the Ocoee River. July 30 promised to be not too different.
“I got there a little bit early, and I needed to get a run in. So, I went for a run like I’ve done hundreds of times there,” he shared. “I run between where our house was and the house my grandmother used to live in, which was maybe two-and-a-half miles away. It would be a five-mile loop.”
Because of the handy runner’s watch Father Willey wears while getting his miles in, he knows the exact time he happened upon the residential fire.
“It was 3:53 in the afternoon. I came down this long, straight road. And I noticed a lot of smoke coming from behind this house. I thought to myself that it seems like they have a pretty good fire burning in their backyard, which isn’t that unusual.
“But it looked like it was close to the house. And as I got closer, it was an older trailer, it looked to me like flames licking the back porch that I could just see from around the corner of the house,” Father Willey recalled.
And that’s when his instinct to act kicked in.
“I ran up into the driveway to get a better look, and sure enough their deck was on fire. At that moment, the first thought that came to my mind was I need to call 911. I wasn’t running with a phone on me, so I had no way to contact the first responders. That was the first thing in my head.
“I turned, and the place I was closest to was the next-door house. I was closer to that house than the house that was on fire. I ran up and knocked on the door forcefully and a guy came out. He later said I about gave him a heart attack by knocking on the door so loudly. I told him, ‘Hey, the house next to you is on fire. You need to call 911.’ Then, I said I was going to go back over and make sure no one was in the house,” Father Willey told the next-door neighbor.
“So, I went over to the house and did the same thing. I banged on the door forcefully, and this time I let myself in. I heard a guy respond, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ as I’m opening the door,” Father Willey continued, noting that the trailer door was not locked.
Father Willey, who is 30, said when he walked into the residence, there was a man younger than him sitting in the front room with three children.
“They were eating either a late lunch or an early dinner. These were little kids. I think the oldest was about 6. And one of them was 2 or younger,” the young priest said. “I went over to the man and said, ‘Your house is on fire.’ And he said, ‘My house is on fire?’ And I said, ‘Yes, it’s on fire in the back.’ They had no idea the house was on fire.
“He is instantly on his phone calling 911. We run out and go around to the side, and he sees the wood deck that is on fire. He is freaking out. As he is calling 911, both of us are trying to get the kids away from the house,” Father Willey said.
He believes extended family lived in the trailer and one or more of them were Catholic. The wife and mother, who had been at work when the fire occurred, returned home that afternoon.
Father Willey’s quick action to alert the resident likely averted a much worse tragedy.
“The place had been there as long as I can remember, at least 20 years. I was on that road even before my family moved to Cleveland because my grandmother lived there and my mom grew up right around the corner,” he remembered.
“The man who lived there and I had the thought that if the fire department could get there the house could be saved. It was less than a minute from the time I first knocked on the door to when flames were jumping out of the roof. It went from the deck being on fire to the whole house being on fire. It went up almost instantly. It was as if one second the deck was on fire to the next second everything is on fire,” he noted.
The resident placed the children in a pickup truck next to the burning dwelling and backed it up because of the intense heat coming from the fire. By this time, a police officer was on the scene but the fire department had not yet arrived.
“I ended up having to carry one of the kids away from the house. I’m trying to keep the kid calm as the whole house was going up in flames. Eventually the fire department arrived. But by the time they got there, the whole house was already on fire. It was a total loss.
“It was pretty dramatic. There was a propane tank in the back yard that blew up. There were power lines falling from the house and sparking. Glass was exploding. The firefighters were able to get the fire under control. And while the house was a complete loss, no one was hurt, so that was a good thing,” the priest said.
The resident and Father Willey shared the thought of trying to go back in the residence and retrieve belongings. “He told me afterward that he tried to run in but instantly had to turn around because of how hot it was,” Father Willey said.
God’s timing was not lost on the All Saints associate pastor, who was reticent to talk about the incident.
“I’m really glad I got there when I did because thinking about it afterward, the biggest thing was just being there at that exact time. Because if I had been there a couple of minutes earlier, then maybe the fire in the back hadn’t been as big and I wouldn’t have noticed it,” he said.
“Definitely, if I had been there two minutes later, it would have been too late to do anything about it. There’s a way in which I feel like I didn’t do all that much other than just be in the right place at the right time, which I think you can definitely see providence in that,” he added.
He is sure God’s hand was guiding him. “There are so many things that have to go right for that timing to be what it was. I hadn’t even planned on running that day. I was really tempted to just go take a nap when I got down there because I was sort of tired. But I needed to get the run in, so I thought I’m just going to go get this over with. Obviously, I’m glad I did,” he shared.
Father Willey said he reached out to pastor Father Mike Nolan at St. Thérèse of Lisieux to see if there were any resources that could be shared with the family as the young priest returned to his own family to change clothes.
The All Saints associate pastor returned to the site of the fire to speak to the family and offer them assistance. This time he was wearing his clerics to let them know he was a priest and that it was the Catholic Church extending a helping hand.
He noted that the residents were being taken care of by family and did not need the resources that he and Father Nolan had discussed.
“They were taken care of in the immediate aftermath and had a place to go, and they had a bunch of stuff donated by people,” said Father Willey, who noted that a GoFundMe account was set up for the family. “They were very grateful that I had knocked on the door.”
Father Michael Willey celebrates his first Mass at St. Thérèse of Lisieux Church in Cleveland on June 9, 2024, following his priestly ordination that spring. St. Thérèse pastor Father Mike Nolan (right) and Deacon Steve Ratterman look on.
The young priest, who is an avid runner and whitewater kayaker, believes it is part of his character as both an individual and as a priest to get involved when the situation arises.
And as evidence of his calm under pressure, Father Willey, who wears the runner’s watch to monitor his distance, pace, route, and heart rate during a run, said his watch indicated that his heart rate did not fluctuate a bit during the fiery event.
He never considered running past the fire and reporting it farther along during his run. He would have entered the burning house whether or not anyone answered the door, even if it had meant kicking in the door.
“It was more dangerous than I realized it was. The fact that I was banging on the door and letting myself into the house before getting any response from the people inside leads me to believe I would have kicked the door in had no one answered,” Father Willey said.
He emphasized that the fire spread so quickly that the trailer was fully engulfed in flames before the fire department could extinguish them.
As ready as Father Willey was for the priesthood when he was ordained on June 8, 2024, St. Meinrad Seminary couldn’t have prepared him to rush into a burning building and get everyone out.
“This was never covered in any of our Wednesday conferences or anything like that. But I do think that part of seminary formation and part of the experience of being a priest prepares you and then places you in leadership roles obviously. I think that plays into taking action and not waiting for someone else to do something. It doesn’t all come from kayaking,” he shared with a smile.
Going forward, Father Willey believes the recent harrowing experience will impact him as a priest for years to come.
“What I was reflecting on the most immediately afterward and continually, too, since then, was how the timing was just perfect for me to be where I was when I was. If it had been a minute or two either side, it would have been much different. As a priest, I am often aware of how God uses me as an instrument in a way that really isn’t about me,” he said.
“All I did was go for a run like I do most days. God put me in the right place at the right time to be able to help this family,” he added.
What is Father Willey’s most important takeaway for people who learn of his encounter? Trust in God. “That would be first.”
“Providence is real and acts in our lives in concrete ways and in ways that we may not be able to recognize as it’s happening,” he shared. “I think providence was definitely at play in regard to what happened on my day off. To realize that God can act in those everyday ways is something that can broaden our perspective of how God acts in the world.”
Another key takeaway for people is to not be afraid to take action.
“If you see something, don’t wait for somebody else to do something because there might not be time for that. In this case, there wasn’t time for that,” he noted.
Father Willey is grateful for the support he has at All Saints Parish. A number of parishioners pressed him to share his story.
“I’m very lucky to be here. This is a great parish for a first assignment, and I’ve been fortunate to be here for two years now. I think we are continually getting better and moving in a good direction,” he said.