News

An overnight fire on Friday destroyed Mills Fire Station 2 and everything inside, including a brush truck that Mills River firefighters planned to deploy in a mutual aid mission to help fight the California wildfires, Henderson County Fire Marshal Kevin Waldrup said.

 

The building, at 100 Fanning Fields Road, was an unmanned substation serving the northern part of the fire district. No one was hurt in the building nor in figthing the fire, Waldrup. The fire had fully engulfed the structure before any firefighters arrived in response to an alarm at 1:30 a.m. Friday. Besides Mills River's force, firefighters assisted from Etowah-Horse Shoe, Fletcher, Mountain Home, Skyland and Transylvania County.

Waldrup and investigateors from the state fire marshal's office were still on the scene at noon Friday working to determine the cause.

"It may be extended," he said of the investigation. "There's a lot of things we have to look at. We're actively digging as we speak to try to rule out some things." The effort was slowed by the fact that the fire caused the metal roof of the masonry structure to cave in. "We have several things we're having to look at — electrical, malfunction of heaters, different building assets."

Responding to an appeal issued by the North Carolina fire marshal's office, Mills River firefighters had committed to take the brush truck and fight the southern California wildfires. The fire also destroyed a pumper truck and an RV-like vehicle used for fire prevention education.

Deputy Fire Chief Gary Livingston said both the structure and equipment were insured and that adjusters had already arrived to begin investigating the claims. "We've working with them all day," he said. Mills Fire & Rescue fully expects to rebuild on the same site, he said. In addition to Fire Station 1 on N.C. 280 and the Fanning Fields Road site, the department has substations on Boylston Road nearer the Transylvania County line and on North Mills River Road.