Friday arson destroys Nakina Rescue building, ambulances

Total loss

County Fire Investigators Shannon Blackman, right, and Jason Soles, left, talk to John Ward, chairman of the Nakina Fire & Rescue Squad’s board of directors, as they examine debris from Friday morning’s arson that destroyed the rescue squad building and two ambulances.

Staff photo by Bob High

• Entire building, all rescue equipment, records, furnishings burn Friday in 3:15 a.m. deliberate fire.

By BOB HIGH
Staff Writer

Less than five hours after arson destroyed the Nakina Rescue Squad’s building and two ambulances, the unit was back in business, thanks to the Tabor City Rescue Squad.

Nakina’s unit had an ambulance on loan from Tabor City parked at the building and ready to respond to any call.

Within another seven hours, another ambulance loaned to Nakina by the Acme Delco Riegelwood unit was on site.

“We have to get this ADR unit inspected and it’ll be ready to use,” said John Ward, president of the Nakina Fire & Rescue Unit’s board of directors.

Ward accompanied insurance investigators Saturday through the ruins of the building along Ramsey Ford Road as they probed the crumbled wreckage of the building, two ambulances and thousands of dollars worth of furnishings and equipment.

Investigators probed ruins

The two ambulances are now housed in the adjacent fire department building that was not touched by the 3:30 a.m. Friday fire. Ward moved one fire truck to its satellite station at Pireway and workers parked the tanker unit outside to make room for the rescue vehicles.

The cause of the fire is still not known, although investigators have narrowed the possible point of origin. These findings have not been released to the public.

Ward said by the time his department was alerted at 3:15 a.m. the building was beyond saving. “The fire must have been burning 30 minutes to an hour before the alarm,” he declared.

“It will take us at least another two weeks to get one rescue truck of our own. I was on the phone Friday trying to find a good used one,” Ward said.

Ward lost his home

Ironically, Ward lost his home and three vehicles in a fire of undetermined cause on Nov. 18 while he and his family took grandson Colby Byrd – fighting leukemia – to Dollywood in Tennessee.

The Nakina Fire Department’s equipment was not damaged as it is housed in a building about 100 feet from the headquarters structure.

Ward was upbeat and positive. His wife Debbie and other rescue members echoed optimism through tear-stained cheeks early Friday as they viewed the ruins.

Nothing but the blackened cabs of the two ambulances was left.

The two fiberglass bodies of the vehicles fed the flames, plus oxygen tanks and the two vehicle fuel tanks exploded inside the metal building.

Flames were so hot — until controlled by firefighters from Nakina, Old Dock-Cypress Creek, Williams, Tabor City and Brunswick — that steel beams across the top drooped. Some steel sheets on the outside of the building buckled.

No one injured

Pieces of brick that fronted the 30-by-90 metal building were thrown at least 75 feet toward Ramsey Ford Road when the two brick columns at the front of the building collapsed.

Firefighters pulled one column down, and the second fell on its own.

Fortunately, no one was injured in the hot blaze that crumpled the five metal doors lining the vehicle bays on the east side of the structure.

Ward estimated the monetary loss at $150,000 for the building; $60,000 for the two used rescue vehicles; another $60,000 for all the equipment and furnishings; plus $10,000 for some new fire department equipment that was in the combined unit’s headquarters.

All the unit’s history, photographs and financial records were destroyed as the fire burned seven non-fireproof file cabinets.

Tabor loans unit

Ward said computers and accessories, radios, a washing machine, clothes dryer, ice machine, two desks, couches, chairs, tables, lamps and other miscellaneous items were a total loss.

The Tabor City Rescue Squad loaned the Nakina unit a rescue vehicle early Friday, and the Nakina unit will use it until a replacement vehicle can be obtained.

County fire inspectors, plus specialists from the State Bureau of Investigation and the federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms unit probed the charred remains Friday as they looked for clues of the fire’s origin.

Ward estimated it would take at least eight weeks to arrange for steel framing for a new building, and projected it would be the middle of April before a replacement structure is in place.

The rescue squad, organized in 1973, will be closely supported by nearby units in Tabor City and Whiteville until Nakina has at least two response vehicles.

“Other than God and my family, this is where my heart is,” Tricia McKeithan said Friday morning with a choked voice as she looked at the destruction.

Donations to help replace equipment and furnishings can be sent to the Nakina Rescue Squad at P.O. Box 136, Nakina, N.C. 28455.