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Volunteer firefighters work on a house fire in Deep Creek on Christmas Eve.
Hannah Styles
hstyles@thesmokymountaintimes.com
On Friday night around 11 p.m., Bryson City Fire Department and additional Swain County emergency responders were dispatched to a structure fire on McCracken Road in Galbraith Creek community with people still inside the residence. Firefighters arrived on the scene to find a chimney fire and all occupants were out of the home.
Bryson City Fire Chief Charles Bryson said the occupants were using the fireplace as their heat due to the extreme cold and reminded us to take safety precautions to prevent other fires like this one.
Those inside the home had used a fire extinguisher to keep the fire from spreading outside of the chimney, which allowed this fire to have a much better outcome, had they not had an extinguisher. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire and the home suffered no damage, only the chimney.
“Make sure to get your chimneys cleaned regularly and be careful when using any type of heat sources,” Chief Bryson said.
Bryson City, Alarka, and West Swain Fire Departments, Qualla Fire and Rescue, and EBCI Cherokee Fire and Rescue responded to this fire.
Bryson City Fire Department and other local agencies were dispatched to another structure fire on the morning of Christmas Eve at 6:27 a.m. in the Deep Creek community. Firefighters were not only tasked with extinguishing the fire, but in near zero temperatures. The cause of this fire is still under investigation by the Swain County Fire Marshal.
“The occupants were out of the fire when we arrived, their smoke detectors woke them up,” Chief Bryson said. “The smoke detectors probably saved their life, so make sure that you have functioning detectors.”
Another fire on Tuesday morning brought Bryson City Fire Department to a rental cabin near the end of Riverside Drive in Whittier for a car fire. At 9:48 a.m., the call went out and upon arriving on the scene, the fire had been mostly put out thanks to the vehicle owner using fire extinguishers from inside of the rental home to stop the flames.
“Had the owner of the vehicle not used the fire extinguisher on the car, it could have very well spread to the house because it was right up against one of the porches, and the road it was on took us a long time to get up there,” Chief Bryson said, considering the freezing cold temperatures and light snowfall that covered the roadway.