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Tryon Fire Receives Lifesaving Support
From L to R: Fire Chief Joey Davis receives a check from Executive
Director Janet Sciacca of the Carolina Foothills Chamber of Commerce
Pictured with them are Tryon PD Officer Theda Rickman, Asst. Fire Chief
Stephen Pace, Tryon Town Manager Justin Hembree, Tryon PD
Officer David Lindsey, and Eric Freeman. The grant, in the amount of
$2500 allowed the department to purchase 2 Zoll AED's which will
be placed on fire apparatus, brining the total AED's at Tryon FD to 5.
photo by Leah Justice
A ceremony was held on Friday at 11 a.m. to remember Patriot's Day,
September 11, and recognize the sacrifices of the many emergency
workers in the area.
The ceremony was attended by Columbus fire
and police, Mill Spring fire, Polk County emergency services, Polk
County Rescue Squad, Polk County Sheriff's Office, Sunny View fire and
rescue, and Tryon fire and polic. Saluda police and fire and Green
Creek fire were not present. Each department received a certificate
for their service by the VFW 9116 and Ladies Auxiliary in honor of
their service and in memory of 9/11.
 About
30 students and two staff members were evacuated from the Polk
County Virtual Early College Monday morning after they experienced
symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. County and school officials
said a faulty heating system apparently caused the problem. Some
students and teachers reportedly became dizzy and nauseated and had
to be helped outside, and some reportedly lost consciousness. As of
Monday afternoon, all of the students and teachers were reportedly
in good condition at St. Luke’s Hospital, according to Polk County
Schools Personnel Director Jim Patterson.
“Everybody is fine and responding and awake,” said Patterson.
“(Emergency workers) responded very quickly and were very
professional and that really helped.”
Bobby Arledge of the Columbus Fire Department, which led the
response with help from numerous area agencies, reported dangerously
high levels of carbon monoxide in the school building on Walker
Street. He said students could have faced even more severe effects
if they had not been moved outside quickly.
Polk County Sheriff Chris Abril said he was passing by the building
around the time of the incident and joined others helping to move
victims outside. He says three students who were passed out were put
on the front lawn of the building, and others still inside also
began to pass out or become dizzy and confused.
Polk emergency workers, many of whom just completed a disaster
training drill last Thursday, quickly put their disaster response
skills to work. Firefighters, emergency workers, law enforcement
personnel and county employees filled the area between the sheriff’s
office and the early college. Ward and Walker streets were blocked
off as workers rushed to get students transported to the hospital.
Some of the students were taken to the front of the Polk County
Sheriff’s Office where they were put on gurneys before being placed
in ambulances.
Columbus Fire Chief Geoff Tennant, who is also chairman of the Polk
County Board of Education, led the response at the early college. He
said the cause of the high levels of carbon monoxide was unknown
Monday morning. But he said officials suspected it was a problem
with the heating system, possibly a blocked chimney, which did not
allow carbon monoxide gas to escape.
Polk County Schools Supt. Bill Miller and other school officials
immediately went to the scene and began notifying parents. Personnel
director Patterson said he and other school officials also went to
the hospital where hospital officials later reported that everyone
was in good condition. He says students were expected to remain
there for further blood tests before being released to their
parents.
Patterson says the carbon monoxide apparently began building up
after the heating system at the early college was turned on at about
8:30 a.m. on Monday. It was the first time it had been turned on
this school year, he says.
This is the first year that the early college was located in the
building on Walker Street, which most recently housed county
departments and previously was home to the Polk County Library. The
Polk County Virtual Early College was created last year to provide
an alternative for students interested in more online learning and
the opportunity to gain more college credit at no cost. The college,
which includes freshman and sophomores this year, spent its first
year in a classroom at the high school.
Polk County government completed renovation work on the building to
make it suitable for the early college. Officials say the heating
system is the same as what was used there previously, and they are
not sure why it may have experienced problems on Monday.
Patterson said the building did not have carbon monoxide detectors,
and neither do other Polk school buildings. He said he expects
detectors will be added, and officials will make sure the heating
system is functioning properly before the early college reopens.
Patterson said he expected it would be closed today.
photo by Dianna Towery
Firefighters spent much of Tuesday working to contain a blaze
that burned several acres of state game lands on the northern side
of White Oak Mountain. The firefighters put in fire lines to keep
the fire from racing up the steep slopes towards residences on White
Oak Mountain. No residences were threatened according to fire
officials, although several residences in the potential line of the
fire were evacuated.
Polk County Forest Ranger Dan Loudermelt said the fire likely was
sparked by lightning after a storm rolled through Monday night,
providing plenty of thunder and lightning but very little rain to
extinguish sparks from a lightning strike. Embers may have smoldered
in the dry ground until eventually igniting a fire that was spotted
in the early morning, say fire officials.
Columbus Fire Chief Geoff Tennant said his department received a
call on the fire at about 5:15 a.m. on Tuesday. Lacking information
about the exact location of the fire, he says it took a while to
pinpoint the blaze, which was not easily accessible from nearby
roads. He says the Columbus Fire Department got help from a Mission
Hospital helicopter that provided a GPS reading, which fire crews
used to locate the fire with their own GPS equipment.
The Columbus Fire Department then set up a staging area off Morning
Ridge Drive on a ridge high above the fire. Firefighters had to
descend about 20 minutes to get to the blaze, located on the north
side of a ridgeline running between White Oak and Little White Oak
mountains.
The location of the fire on such steep slopes posed considerable
risk since fires spread rapidly uphill and firefighters could not
get hoses to the site.
The N.C. Forest Service provided a spotter plane and two helicopters
carrying water to help contain the fire. According to fire
officials, the blaze was limited to between three to five acres.
Forest Ranger Loudermelt led a crew of about 15 forest service
firefighters to help contain the blaze, which also drew help from
all six fire departments in the county and a crew from the N.C.
Wildlife Service.
Nearly a dozen local agencies assisted with the fire, including Polk
County Emergency Medical Services, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office
and the Polk County Chapter of the American Red Cross.
The Red Cross delivered many bottles of water and food to help
firefighters “rehab.” The water was particularly critical Tuesday
since temperatures soared into the mid and upper 90s.
One firefighter reportedly suffered a knee injury while working on
the steep slopes around the fire, but the severity of the injury was
unknown. Chief Tennant said it was difficult to get the firefighter
out of the forest quickly and to an ambulance given the steep
terrain. The firefighter was scheduled to go to the hospital for an
evaluation.
Polk County pets will now have a better chance of surviving a
fire, because all county fire departments have a set of oxygen
masks for pets. The initiative started with Dave Kuether with the
Tryon Fire Department and Columbus Fire Chief Geoff Tennant
collecting private donations for the pet air masks. Currently,
enough funds have been raised to equip each of Polk’s six fire
departments with one set of pet air masks. A set comes with a
small, medium and large size air masks to be able to resuscitate
cats and dogs.
Fire departments are hoping to collect enough donations to be able
to equip each fire truck in the county. Each set costs about $60.
Tryon Fire Chief Joey Davis says a regular air mask won’t fit
animals and on many occassions firefighters are also trying to
save homeowners’ pets. He said a lot of animals try to hide during
fires out of fear which can result in smoke inhalation.
Pet oxygen masks are growing in popularity around the region as
several departments have used them to save pets. Veterinarians
have used oxygen masks designed especially for animals for years,
but it has only been recently that programs have begun to get
emergency crews the right equipment to save pets.
Donations (tax free) can be made to: Tryon Fire Department, P.O.
Box 1461, Tryon, N.C. 28782.
Donors are asked to write “pet masks” on the envelope when they
mail it or drop it off at the station.
Estimated $400k of equipment lost
A building that houses equipment at Hensons’, Inc. went up in flames
the night of the Fourth of July, destroying trucks and other
equipment worth an estimated $400,000.
The Tryon Fire Department was dispatched around 2:55 a.m. Saturday
to 105 Ridge Road in Tryon and arrived to find the building fully
engulfed in flames.
Initial 911 callers reported loud explosions in the area, according
to a press release from the Tryon Fire Department. Neighbors
reported being awoken by the explosions and feeling their homes
shake. Officials say the noises and shaking could have been caused
by exploding propane and acetylene tanks or tires on the large
trucks bursting, but the cause of the fire is currently unknown.
There were approximately ten trucks in the large building, two
tractor trailers, service trucks, backhoes and dump trucks, one of
which Hensons’ had purchased only recently.
Tryon Fire Chief Joey Davis says firefighters from Tryon were
assisted by Landrum, Campobello and Gowensville fire departments
from South Carolina and from Columbus, Saluda, Mill Spring and Green
Creek fire departments in Polk County. Assistance was also provided
from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the Tryon Police Department,
the Polk County Chapter of the American Red Cross, Polk County
Emergency Services and Landrum Rescue.
“Firefighters fought the blaze for several hours and finally
extinguished flames around 8 a.m.,” Davis said. “The cause of the
fire is under investigation by the joint agencies of the Tryon Fire
Department, Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Tryon Police Department,
Polk County Arson Strike Team, and North Carolina State Bureau of
Investigation.”
No injuries were reported, according to Davis.
Tryon resident was walking dog
A tree limb fell last Friday at Harmon Field
killing a Tryon man who was there walking his dog
Herman Edward Hawkins, Jr., 44, of Doubleday
Road, Tryon was killed instantly, according to police reports.
The incident occurred during a wind storm around
6:15 p.m. when Hawkins was walking his dog, Kona, at the park.
Hawkins and Kona were found in the middle of the bridge near the
open air gym that crosses the river to the maintenance building.
A couple also walking at Harmon Field at the
time, Gordy and Denise Cwik found Hawkins. The Cwiks said they were
taking their daily walk when the weather began shifting and a big
gust of wind swept through. They heard a crack and then noticed a
big limb lying over the bridge. When they approached, they realized
the limb had killed a man and injured his dog. Kona was taken to
Bonnie Brae Veterinary Hospital in Columbus and is expected to
recover. A fund to help pay for the dog’s medical bills is being
established.
The branch was reported to be a live branch from
a locust tree. The branch was approximately five inches in diameter.
The Tryon Police Department, Tryon Fire
Department and the Polk County Emergency Services responded to the
scene Friday.
Hawkins, originally from Hendersonville, moved to
Tryon in 2005 and was in the antiques and collectibles business.
If the Pacolet River had turned green on
Monday for St. Patrick’s Day it might not have seemed so
strange. But the Pacolet River yesterday wasn’t green – it was
dark red, and its unusual color caught the eye of many people in
the area.
The red color was caused by a nontoxic dye discharging from
Grover Industries, according to Grover Plant Manager Gary Semel.
Semel says red dye is spilling into the Pacolet River and the
plant is taking every measure possible to correct the problem
but it will take some time for it to subside.
Semel says the plant is permitted to discharge dye and it is not
toxic or environmentally harmful.
“It’s fairly normal for us to discharge color, but not red,”
Semel said. “It’s not toxic in any way. It poses no threat to
the environment.”
The Tryon Fire Department received a call about the river on
Monday evening around 7:30 p.m., according to Tryon Fire Chief
Joey Davis.
He said he understands it is the first time the fire department
has ever had a call for anything involving Grover. Davis said
Polk County Emergency Management personnel Sandra Halford and
Michael Crater were also on the scene Monday evening and spoke
with the N.C. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental
Control and Grover’s plant manager.
Davis says that state officials were scheduled to visit Tuesday
afternoon to test the river to check that it is not in violation
of Grover’s permits.
Davis said the exact amount of red dye spilled is unknown, and
the fire department is waiting for the state to indicate whether
there’s a problem with the spill.
Officials say residents made many calls to the dispatch services
for Tryon and the county to alert officials about the red river.
Davis said some residents have expressed concern about animals
drinking from the river and potential harm to nearby vegetation,
such as tomato fields that are about to be planted in the area.
Grover Industries is located between Clarence Rhodes Road and
Capps Road in Lynn. Grover is a package dyer industry for yarn,
primarily for home furnishings.
 Firefighters
received some help from the weather Monday afternoon while working
to put out a woods fire on about 30 acres off Hwy. 176 in the
Pacolet Valley near Tryon. The fire, which may have been caused by a
burn barrel at a home off Hwy. 176, moved quickly up the steep
slopes along the valley, pushed by steady winds in the early
afternoon. Fortunately, the winds eventually carried in a line of
rain. The blaze had threatened several homes, but reportedly did not
cause any damage to them. The N.C. Forest Service and the Tryon Fire
Department planned to work through the night to keep the blaze
contained.
The fire reportedly was called in by someone passing by on Hwy. 176
at around 1 p.m. Firefighters reported steady winds that frequently
changed direction, making their task more difficult. At one point a
large branch fell from a tree not far from an area where
firefighters were spraying water with hoses. The fire line came
within several yards of at least a couple houses in the 2500 block
of Hwy. 176, and large plumes of smoke drifted east across Bucks
Mountain and Warrior Mountain. A spotter plane and two Forest
Service helicopters were brought in to help control the blaze, and
eventually a light, but steady rain helped keep it from spreading
further. The Forest Service helicopters were released at around 5
p.m.
The N.C. Forest Service and Tryon Fire Department received
assistance from other departments across the region, including
Columbus, Saluda, Mill Spring, Green Creek, Landrum and Boiling
Springs. The Polk County Sheriff's Office, Polk County Rescue Squad
and the Polk County Chapter of the American Red Cross also assisted
at the scene.
 Talk
about being at the right place at the right time. Mill Spring
firefighter Phillip Ravan said he was just crossing the railroad
tracks in Tryon when he heard the call come in for the fire at
Oak Hall Condominiums last Thursday night. He arrived minutes
after the fire started and evacuated the apartment before the
residents even knew their apartment was on fire. Tryon Police
Department officers Tim Wright and David Lindsey quickly
followed the call and the three evacuated all of the 300
building of the Oak Hall Condominiums.
Apartment 304 caught fire just before 10 p.m. last Thursday with
the 911 call coming from someone in the parking lot of
Sidestreet Pizza, according to Tryon Fire Chief Joey Davis.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office and the Tryon Police Department
are investigating the cause of the fire, which is currently
unknown.
No one was injured in the fire, according to Chief Davis, but
the fire caused extensive damage to three units, forcing
residents to find temporary living arrangements until repairs
can be made.
The fire was mostly in the roof section of the apartment and was
contained to the deck. Flames were said to be seen shooting out
the front of the building overlooking downtown Tryon until
firefighters got it under control.
The 300 building of Oak Hall, a retirement condominium complex
on Chestnut Street, was evacuated with residents standing in the
parking lot, most in their nightly attire. The fire struck when
most residents were already asleep and many residents said they
didn’t know there was a fire until they heard the sirens.
The 300 building was evacuated and power was shut off to units
302, 303 and 304 (where the fire started) until an electrical
inspection can be done, Davis said.
Most residents of the building, around 10 in total, stayed
elsewhere Thursday night, with some staying at the Days Inn in
Columbus as set up by the Polk County Chapter of the American
Red Cross. A local church also offered to house displaced
residents for the night.
Severe damage was done to the 304 unit by fire and smoke and the
two immediately adjoining units also suffered smoke and/or fire
damage.
The Tryon Fire Department was assisted by Columbus, Saluda and
Landrum Fire Departments along with the Polk County Emergency
Services, the Polk County Rescue Squad, the Tryon Police
Department, Polk County Sheriff’s Office and the Polk County Red
Cross.
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