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inds contributed to the flames that engulfed this home on Franklin Grove Church Road in the early morning hours of April 1. No one was injured, but the family lost their possessions and the structure was a total loss.
Jessica Webb
editor@thesmokymountaintimes.com
A structure fire on Franklin Grove Church Road in the early morning hours of Friday, April 1 was quickly fully engulfed in flames as high winds quickly spread the fire.
Bryson City Fire Department was joined by Alarka, Qualla and West Swain along with Swain County Sheriff’s Department and Swain County EMS in the response to the call that went out at 3:18 a.m. for a structure fire at 961 Franklin Grove Church Road. Crews continued to work the scene and were all cleared about 9 a.m.
The occupants of the home and a nearby structure moved to safety ahead of the response, and no one was injured.
It took the better part of an hour to contain the fire that was fed by high winds, and the structure is a total loss. The cause is still under investigation.
“We don’t think the weather had anything to do with the origin of it, but it definitely had an impact on how quickly it spread through the house,” said Bryson City Fire Chief Charles Bryson.
This was the second structure fire over 24 hours. The previous morning, BCFD and other departments were called to a house fire at 371 Shepherds Creek Road.
“It was in the attic, but it wound up spreading to the entire upstairs before crews were able to locate it and get it knocked out,” Bryson explained.
The damage led to about a 60-70 percent loss. Like many other fires earlier in the week, a downed power line caused the blaze.
“They had a tree fall on the service drop line that comes into the house,” Bryson said. He said it caused an overcurrent to go into the house, which started the fire.
While the family got out safely, they lost one of their puppies in the fire.
“They also lost a lot of their contents and personal belongings,” Bryson said, of both the structure fires in town.
Two other calls on Thursday were also caused by downed power lines from the high winds. These were both outdoor fires that threatened nearby structures.
“With the high winds yesterday, we had a fire at 1:25 a.m. at Hide-Away Campground,” Bryson said. “It was below the campground as you go up Shuler Road, and it caught the steep bank on fire and three campers were threatened when we got there.”
“Right after, Cherokee had a fire on Birdtown Road at Wolf Campground that we sent two trucks from Hide-Away to protect two houses,” he added.
After a week of high winds and mostly dry conditions, firefighters who have been working around the clock should see some relief this week now that the weather system of high winds is no longer in effect.
Even so, Bryson said, “we can only hope” for the relief, and he reminded readers we are still in spring fire season through at least the end of April.
“We’re still under threat,” he said Friday morning. “Even with the rain we had, I know West Swain had a brushfire last night,” he said. “It doesn’t take long for the wind to dry out the leaves enough to get things started.”
Bryson was right with fire calls continuing through the weekend. On Friday at 1:32 p.m., West Swain fire department provided assistance for Graham County at an outside fire off Hwy 28 North near Panther Creek.
On Sunday, there was another brushfire in Whittier. The call to the fire on Conleys Creek went out at 1:33 p.m. Smoke rising up the mountain could be seen from US 74 and throughout Whittier. The fire was contained to woodlands and firefighters performed structure protection, according to Swain County Fire Marshall Ervin Winchester. The call was cleared by 8:20 p.m.
At 7:53 p.m. another call went out for a fire on McMillan Road off Hyatt Creek Road. This time, the fire was a motorcycle that had caught fire.
On Monday afternoon, at 12:49 p.m., West Swain was called to another outside fire on Wildcat Branch Road in the Silvermine Community. The call was cleared at 2:28 p.m.
Community involvement
The overwhelming majority of firefighters are volunteers, particularly those who man the town and county departments. While the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service have staff people who respond to wildfires, even their departments rely on local volunteers to help in the effort when fires threaten homes within the county.
“It continues to amaze me, with the small volunteer force we’ve got, how much they continue to contribute to the community,” Bryson said. “We get a few volunteers come in here and there, but it’s still hard to find them.”
All the departments welcome more volunteer firefighters to join up.
Bryson also credits the responding agencies for working together to protect residents and property.
“We continue to depend on each other,” he said. For example, Cherokee helped on the Hide Away Campground call and then Bryson went into Cherokee to help with the call off Birdtown right after.
“We’ve got those same departments that continually have our back,” he said. “Also, the Rescue Squad helped us quite a bit on the wild lands fires with ATVS and moving people around to the different locations. It’s really good to see the relationships we’ve got through the community departments.”
He also credits the monetary support of the residents, adding that without monetary donations from the community, the departments would not be able to do the work they do.
For those interested in helping in other ways, Bryson confirmed that donations of cases of water, Gatorade and high-energy snacks like energy bars are always welcome.