Mooresville: NASCAR team’s shop catches fire, sends 3 to hospital, firefighters say

A racing team’s shop caught fire in Mooresville Thursday afternoon, sending three people to the hospital, firefighters said. Mooresville Fire-Rescue said they were called around 11:30 a.m. Thursday to Reaume Brothers Racing, a race shop on Fernwood Lane in Mooresville. An engine arriving at the scene confirmed there was a fire inside the building. While crews were able to extinguish the fire quickly, the building was significantly damaged, firefighters said. Three people were hurt -- one person was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation, another was taken to the hospital and then released, and a third person was taken with burns to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist hospital. The Mooresville fire marshal is still investigating what caused the fire. Reaume Brothers Racing is a NASCAR craftsman truck series team.
WSOC-TV ABC 9 Charlotte

Davidson County EMS Director retires after 35 years of service

After 35 years working for Davidson County Emergency Services, it is probably safe to say that director Larry James has driven on almost every road, street and highway in the county more than once, and more likely in the dead of night or through treacherous weather. But after dedicating a majority of his life to helping people in distress or in need of medical service during some extremely stressful situations, James is retiring on Jan. 31 to tend to his own mental well-being and a change in his environment. James, 59, was born in Winston-Salem, but grew up in Davidson County. He said it was during his senior year at North Davidson High School, that he first began his career in emergency response by joining the Gumtree Volunteer Fire Department as a junior firefighter. Shortly after graduation, he took his emergency medical technician training and began running medical calls with the fire department.
The Dispatch - Metered Site

Cashiers-Glenville Fire Department substation to improve safety, insurance rates

If all goes according to plan, Cashiers and Glennville will soon have more fire protection and residents will enjoy cheaper insurance. The Cashiers-Glenville Fire Department plans to build a new substation in the area to provide more coverage for homes and businesses further out in the countryside. “This will be our station number seven,” GCFD Chief Randy Dillard said. “We own six, and we have a truck with the rescue squad over at Blue Ridge School, and they have a truck at our Yellow Mountain Station. So, that’ll be seven locations where we will have firehouses and trucks in them.” Paid staff works from the Cashiers firehouse in the center of the district. Each of the soon-to-be six fire substations is fully operational consisting of a pumper tank and a four-wheel drive brush truck.
The Sylva Herald and Ruralite

Handicapped resident injured in Craven County mobile home fire

A handicapped resident was injured in a late morning fire in Craven County. Craven County Emergency Services Director Stanley Kite says firefighters were called around 11:50 a.m. to a mobile home on Highway 55 near the Lenoir County line. Kite said the first call came in from neighbors who reported smoke in the area. A couple of minutes later someone called about the mobile home on fire. The victim was taken to ECU Health Medical Center while the Red Cross is helping the family. Several volunteer fire departments from both Craven and Lenoir counties fought the fire. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
WITN-TV NBC 7 Washington

Fire at former Spray Cotton Mill in Eden prompts multi-agency response

VIDEO: Crews responded to a massive building fire in Rockingham County Thursday morning. The historic former Spray Cotton Mill building in Eden, located on Church Street, caught fire around 10:40 p.m. Wednesday night and crews fought the flames well into Thursday morning. At least one wall of the historic mill collapsed from the heat and flames, but Chief Simpson with Eden police says the fire has been contained to one of the four buildings. Crews say the fire is under control and that they are able to scale back their response and no buildings or other businesses nearby are at risk at this time. Initially, 23 agencies responded to help fight the huge fire at the former Spray Cotton Mill. While crews are still on scene, people are asked to avoid Meadow Road at Stadium Drive, Church Street at Morgan Road and Boone Road at Early Avenue.
WGHP-TV FOX 8 High Point

New partnership in Wake County aims to help firefighters quickly respond to rural areas

An ‘unincorporated area’ is one that hasn’t been added to a city or town and they often lack fire hydrants. There are still many areas in Wake County that. For residents like Eddyles Jacinthe, who lives in the Foxcroft neighborhood of Wake County, it's a concern being in an area that lacks hydrants. "My wife and i spoke last night, we would not want to have good people like that die in the future again," Jacinthe said. The discussion around unincorporated areas of Wake comes after a house fire in an unincorporated area of Wake County at Castlebrook Drive, where two people died. Last summer, Wake County made changes to help those areas. In July 2022, an agreement was struck between the city of Raleigh and Wake County to ensure widespread protections, water supply, and rapid response times to unincorporated areas of the county.
WRAL-TV NBC 5 Raleigh

Low water pressure hindering firefighters in town of Grover emergencies

One small North Carolina town is dealing with a problem right under its feet. Low water pressure is causing a real problem for firefighters in the town of Grover during emergency situations. Several times in the past few years crews say when they need water to put out fires, all they get from the hydrants is a trickle. The latest happened just a couple of days ago. But fixing the problem would cost untold millions, so officials are looking for other ways to deal with the situation. “Basically, we couldn’t fill the hose.” Jimmy Hensley has been in the fire services for nearly forty years. He says he’s seen a lot, but what he saw Monday, he’d rather not see again. “When we’re using a five-inch water hose pulling from a six-inch waterline, it doesn’t leave very much residual left over,” Hensley detailed. “In fact, there was an issue.”
WBTV CBS 3 Charlotte

After 50 years of battling blazes, Cullowhee firefighter L.G. Painter to retire

Staying married 50 years is a feat, and those who make it deserve accolades. L.G. Painter has been in a relationship for 50 years, showing his love of the Cullowhee community as a volunteer firefighter. Painter, 76, went to work at Western Carolina University’s electrical department in 1972 and as a volunteer firefighter at age 25. The building housed a fire truck. “It wasn’t really a fire station, it was more a shop,”he said. “We had one little fire truck that the university had bought in 1971.” The truck had to be moved out of the shop every working day to make room for operations, he said. In 1974, WCU built on Long Branch a three-bay station that also housed the carpentry, plumbing and other shops. “Then we went to the Department of Transportation and got a dump truck chassis,” he said.
The Sylva Herald and Ruralite

Partial demolition of apartments in Kinston will help ease access for first responders

The Kinston Housing Authority is making sure emergency vehicles have better access to one area in town. In order to make this happen, parts of the Simon Bright Apartments will have to be torn down. Narrow driveways in and around the apartment complex allow one vehicle to pass at a time. That’s why the Kinston Housing Authority is working to not only improve this for residents but to make sure first responders will be able to answer emergency calls hopefully without issues. “What we found in real time was that some of the locations were very difficult as far as being able to access whenever we had specific types of fires,” Kinston Fire Chief Damien Locklear said. Locklear says real-time training back in November allowed first responders to pre-plan how they can respond to emergencies at Simon Bright Apartments.
WNCT-TV CBS/CW+ 9 Greenville

Structure fire in Boone under investigation

PHOTOS: A Tuesday night structure fire in Boone is under investigation. According to Watauga County Fire Marshal Shane Garland, Boone Fire and other departments were dispatched to the 500 block of Lake Ridge Road for a structure fire just after 9 p.m. Tuesday. First arriving firefighters found heavy flames showing in an old structure that was being used for storage. The cause of the fire is under investigation in coordination with the Fire Marshal's Office and Boone Fire. No injuries were reported. Deep Gap Fire, Stewart Simmons Fire, Meat Camp Fire, the Watauga County Sheriff's office, the Watauga county Fire Marshal's Office, Watauga Medics and Watauga Rescue also responded to the scene.
Watauga Democrat