Firefighters who were working to put out a fire at a Pineville golf store Saturday night at one point reported that Richard Sheltra was lost in the building but was on his way out, according to an audio recording of communications at the scene. The recording, which has several unintelligible exchanges between firefighters, appears to capture the following: “Sheltra did not make it out of the building yet. He’s coming now. He got lost. Make sure he gets out of the building.”
Fresh details surrounding the 20-year-old’s death also were disclosed in a Monday afternoon press conference at the Pineville Volunteer Fire Department. Officials there said Sheltra died of smoke inhalation while battling the blaze they described as beginning after lightning struck the Edwin Watts golf store in the Countryside shopping center. Sheltra, a volunteer firefighter in Pineville for the past three years, was pronounced dead at 10:22 p.m. after being taken to Carolinas Medical Center, fire officials said Monday. One other firefighter was treated at the scene. A third was taken to Carolinas Medical Center and later released.