Home Care In Mills River, NC

MILLS RIVER - Mills River Fire Department Station 2 cast a glow upon the midnight sky Jan. 17, which Deputy Chief Gary Livingston said he could see from a mile away.

When Livingston and four other firefighters arrived on scene, flames were billowing out from all corners of the building as sirens blared from the fire trucks inside. A triangular cut can still be seen in one of the station's large electrical doors, where Livingston said they sawed an opening to access the fire.

"We were trying to save all we could, doing our best," Livingston said. Besides the building, the volunteer fire department lost $1 million pumper truck as well as a fire prevention trailer and brush truck. Livingston estimated that both cost $100,000, as his voice shook with emotion.

"This hits home for me personally because I was the chief when this station was built," Livingston said, as he mourned the loss of the fire department's oldest substation, built in 1997.

Responding to the fire alongside the deputy chief, Capt. Chris Ballinger said he was caught totally "off guard" when the call came in around 1:30 a.m. Soot still lined his hands as he sat in the volunteer fire department's main station hours later.

"I'm like 'OK, yeah, we're going to a fire — wait. Where? What? We were totally not mentally prepared for this," Ballinger said.

The building still smoldered as investigators from the Office of the State Fire Marshal stood among the rubble, trying to get a grasp on what might have ignited the flames nine hours earlier. Both the state and the Henderson County Fire Marshal's Office are working together to find an answer. At first, firefighters thought the source was a brush truck the department had prepped the night before, getting it ready to fight the fires raging in Southern California.

"But probably not from what we're hearing now," Livingston said. Investigators don't suspect arson to be at play.

Mills River Fire & Rescue consists of five paid employees and about 60 volunteers, some of whom come from families that have worked with the department across generations. This small but mighty team was left largely on its own during Tropical Storm Helene, minus an extra crew it called in from outside the area before the storm struck on Sept. 27, according to Gary's nephew, 2nd Assistant Chief Jason Livingston.

"We're still getting over that, we're not completely over that yet. We will recover from this, and we'll be OK eventually. It's tough though," Gary Livingston said, reflecting on his team in the aftermath of Helene and amid another setback.

Ballinger said the hardest part of the storm response was not having contact with their families, and for the first few hours, with dispatch. Crew members who spent days and weeks at a time in the station had no way of knowing if their loved ones were safe, with cell signal wiped out for large swaths of Western North Carolina.

"If we go out on a call, we're always thinking, no matter what happens, all I got to do is call for help. That was taken away from us. If we get there and X, Y and Z happens, you're on your own. That was a huge challenge," Ballinger said.

In places that were cut off by downed trees and power lines, firefighters' response was assisted in part by community members and retired firefighters, Jason Livingston said.

Multiple firefighters pointed out how Mills River was "blessed" to not be hit as hard as Swannanoa, Burnsville, Lake Lure, or elsewhere. Yet, the effects still linger. Some firefighters' family members are displaced by structural damage to their homes. A few neighbors' houses on South Mills River Road were washed completely off their bases, Ballinger said.

Firefighter Scott Orr, who has volunteered in Mills River since 1993 and responded to the fire Jan. 17, was in Etowah when Helene hit. He worked 11 straight 24-hour shifts in the immediate aftermath of Helene, after the Etowah's main station flooded chest high, he said.

Orr said the storm had a "terrible" impact on his fellow first responders. Especially on the fourth or fifth day, when everyone seemed to slump, Orr explained, throwing his shoulders forward in emphasis. But what's gotten him through is the people working alongside him.

Both after Helene and the recent fire, the Mills River community has come together to support each other and the town's volunteer firefighters.

"I'm very proud, personally, of a sense of community that showed out during that time," Jason Livingston said.

Livingston's phone buzzed all morning Jan. 17, as people continued texting him, checking in on how the department is doing after the flames raged.

Ryley Ober is the Public Safety Reporter for Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober

Thousands across Western North Carolina remain without running water days after Tropical Storm Helene destroyed the main lines that supply the area around Asheville.

While relief efforts are under way to provide bottled water and food to those in need, many are wondering when running water will be restored.

When will Asheville have running water?

Officials in Buncombe County and Asheville have not given a timeline on when full water connectivity can be restored after Helene washed out 24-inch and 36-inch water main lines and transmission lines at the North Fork Water Treatment Plant. Inaccessible roadways and continued flooding created challenges for making the necessary repairs that would allow the area to regain full running water.

"We have made measurable progress toward beginning the process of repairing the water system," Ben Woody, Asheville assistant city manager, said Oct. 2.

One water treatment facility — the Mills River Water Treatment Plant — is functional, but is working at a reduced level.

Woody said personnel have reached a milestone in the recovery of the Mills River plant and that customers being served by that plant should begin to receive water. "We are beginning to ramp up production at that plant," he said.

Repairs are underway at Buncombe's biggest source of water, the North Fork plant.

"Actual repairs are underway to transmission lines and access roads," Woody said. But he cautioned that "damage to the transmission lines is severe."

As for the facility at Bee Tree in Swannanoa, Woody said it won't be accessible until access roads can be rebuilt.Previous reporting from the Citizen Times noted that it would be weeks before full water connection was restored after thousands of feet of water lines were washed away.

Where does Asheville get its water from?

Asheville has three water treatment plants: North Fork (located in Black Mountain), William DeBruhl (located in Swannanoa), and Mills River (located near the Asheville Regional airport). The reservoirs are fed by mountain streams.

Asheville water distribution sites

Those currently needing water can visit these water distribution sites: