Fire chief: Check, then call
Published 11:05 pm Wednesday, April 11, 2018
After two local volunteer fire departments responded with five trucks to a fire Tuesday night that was a false alarm, the chief is reminding residents to be responsible before dialing 911.
The Gantt and Heath Fire Departments were dispatched to a home where residents were burning pine needles in their backyard around 6 p.m.
Scott Fight, the fire chief at the Gantt Volunteer Fire Department says they get calls like this all the time.
“A lot of the time it’s somebody across the way that called 911 for a fire and they just see smoke. They don’t see the actual flames. When we pull up, we find out that it’s just a backyard fire or someone burning off brush,” he said.
Fight said that when they arrived on scene, they saw flames coming from behind the house.
“There was a lot of smoke too. When we ran around back, the owner explained she was just burning some leaves and pine straw.”
“We had around three trucks come from our department and Heath came with more,” he said.
Fight said that it’s a good thing to be cautious.
“It’s always better to be cautious, but check into the smoke and see if there is an actual fire.”