Bank fund set up to help residents
A calm Sunday morning took a devastating turn for Columbus resident Sherry Lance March 13.
Lance said she returned from grabbing breakfast at McDonald’s to the sight of her home on Smith Dairy Road billowing with smoke and surrounded by fire engines.
At that moment, Lance was on the phone with her fiancé, who was at work.
“I was pulling up to the house and I saw all the fire trucks and the smoke. My fiancé was on the phone and I just started screaming, ‘Get home, get home, get home; the house is on fire,’” Lance said.
Columbus Assistant Chief Geoffrey Tennant said the department was dispatched to the fire at 10:51 a.m. He said Chief Bobby Arledge arrived first on the scene in his private vehicle, followed by the initial apparatus at 11:04 a.m.
“The home was fully involved once we arrived on the scene with heavy smoke and flames coming through the roof,” Tennant said.
Although no one was home at the time, fire personnel were concerned someone might be inside because an additional vehicle was sitting in the driveway.
Lance said her fiancé had lived in the 43-year-old home most of his life. Lance’s mother and her mother’s fiancé just moved in with the couple about a week ago, Lance said.
“The whole house went quick,” Lance said. “It’s a total burnout… there is nothing left but a shell. We really don’t know what we are going to do. We need help.”
Assisting the Columbus Fire Department with the blaze were Green Creek, Mill Spring and Tryon Fire Departments, as well as Polk County EMS and the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
Tennant said protocol in Polk County mandates the dispatch of a minimum of three departments in the case of a possible structure fire. He said Columbus requested mutual aid beyond that number because of the intensity of the fire.
“We had 13 folks on scene, I’m not sure how many showed up from the other two departments but our guys were getting whipped,” he said. “They were getting fatigued and having to spend time in the rehab center with EMS to rehydrate.”
Tennant said they made the initial attack with a 3-inch line, which requires a minimum of four fire fighters. He said holding that line against an intense fire can wear even the best fire fighter out.
“Certainly there was a lot of heavy smoke to deal with, which indicated to us that the fire had probably smoldered inside before it broke through,” he said.
Fire fighters brought the blaze under control at 11:34 a.m.
Lance and her fiancé have received assistance from the Polk County Red Cross, but she said they have lost everything and are in dire need of help.
Mountain 1st Bank in Columbus currently has a fund set up for the family for anyone interested in making a donation.
Lance can be reached at 828-748-0630.