Thanksgiving was wonderful in Cashiers. We planned to leave early on Sunday to avoid the holiday traffic. We had an early lunch, loaded the car and were taking the puppies out before the trip when I spotted an intense billow of smoke behind the house—the air was already full of smoke from all the forest fires here in North Carolina. (50,000 acres have burned in North Carolina so far.) I went on the porch to get a closer look and saw flames under the neighbor’s hemlock hedge and headed straight for other homes—including mine!
I yelled for Mr. P. and called 911, Public Safety and another neighbor. We gathered hoses, rakes, blowers, shovels and more shovels and went to work. The wonderful Public Safety guys and the amazing firemen from the Cashiers Fire Department were there with incredible speed. Chief Randy Dillard and his crew went to work. The fire burned the neighbor’s air conditioning units, the side of the house, wires, leaves and was moving into the woods and toward surrounding homes.
Public Safety used fire extinguishers, rakes, hoses and blowers to help contain the fire. Mr. P. helped by raking the burning leaves and beating down the flames going into the woods—I had two hoses and another blower behind the hemlock hedge. Shockingly, no one knew one realized one of the owners was in the house, totally unaware of what was going on outside. The Cashiers Fire Department checked the house first, found her safe, and then went to work. The firefighters are wonderful and deserve all of our praises! They were speedy, efficient, accurate and stayed on the scene until every last ember was out. We are grateful that our neighbor is safe and that their property did not have extensive damage.
I nominate the Cashiers Fire Department for Volunteers of the Year! They are amazing, dedicated and so very efficient. Thank you Cashiers Fire Department and Chief Randy Dillard—You Are The Best! Why not head over to your local fire department today, take them a thank you gift and thank them for all the hard work that they do.
xo♥, Lissy
8 thoughts on “Fire, Fire and Firemen to the Rescue!”
So very scary! Grateful that you were there to act swiftly. What was the source of the fire?
We planned to leave a lot earlier—thank God we were late!
xo
Wow, glad everything turned out okay! Hopefully not an arsonist, so scary! We woke to the smell of smoke in the wee hours Sunday ( I slept with the window open)….thankful for the rain now!!
We are so very happy for the quick response of the Cashiers Fire Department!
xo
It was so good that you saw the fire before you left. The cause was explained by Ms. Shumpert. Unbelievable. So glad that you are safe. And thanks from the absent neighbors. ?
Lissy are you in Cashiers? Thank goodness you saw the fires before you left.
We are fine—physically.
xo
Lynn, You are most welcome—thanks for remembering me. The way the fire started was truly unbelievable in this horrible drought.
xo