Charlotte Observer | 06/12/2007 | Blaze destroys rural fire station
LIBERTY --Several firefighters stood in a circle with their hands on their hips outside of the smoldering ruins of their fire station Monday in rural Rowan County.
Rarely do firefighters have to put out a blaze at their own station. But about 75 volunteers were called before sunrise Monday in an attempt to save one of the two fire stations in the Liberty township, about 10 miles east of Salisbury.
Tim Shaver, 53, has volunteered with the fire department since he was 18 and worked at the Liberty station when it opened in the late 1970s.
He said he was heartbroken. It took selling "a lot of chicken suppers" to raise the money to build the station, he said.
"They always tell you `things happen for a reason,' " said Shaver, the fire department's deputy chief. "But you wonder, `Why?' "
The volunteer station was empty when the fire started. One volunteer who showed up to fight the blaze was sent to the hospital after part of the station's roof collapsed with him inside. Authorities said he wasn't seriously injured.
The fire station's siren started sounding around 4 a.m. as it always does when volunteer fire fighters are being called to duty, officials. But on Monday, no one arrived to shut off the ringing.
Eventually, a neighbor with a key to the station made the trip, intending to shut off the alarm. Firefighters learned about the blaze when the neighbor asked someone to call 911.
"The first thing I thought was -- the truck is in the fire department. What are you supposed to put out the blaze with?" said Darrin Tresler, the department's fire chief.
So the firefighters went inside to get the truck. A water tanker arrived from a nearby station. Flames leapt dozens of feet in the air, and firefighters spent Monday putting out the blaze.
Crews were able to rescue the fire engine, an all-terrain vehicle, a brush truck and a boat. The water tanker truck was retrieved after the blaze was under control. But the building was a total loss.
Rowan County Fire Marshall Tom Murphy said investigators were trying to figure out the cause of the blaze. No one had been in the fire department since the station had its last call Sunday afternoon, he said.
For now, firefighters will have to operate out of a newer station about four miles away.
"And we'll rebuild," Shaver said. "That's all we can do."
