October 1, 2025 • 33 mins
Tune in here to this Wednesday's edition of Breaking With Brett Jensen!
Breaking Brett Jensen kicks the show off by talking about the explosive findings from the North Carolina State Auditor’s report on CATS security and the growing legal trouble for the City of Charlotte. He highlights concerns over a costly security contract that now provides fewer armed guards, sparking backlash and a delayed city press conference. Brett also breaks exclusive news about a federal lawsuit filed by CMPD officer and FOP President Daniel Redford, who claims his constitutional rights were violated after speaking out on social media.
Jensen is joined by North Carolina State Fire Marshal Brian Taylor for an exclusive one-on-one interview to discuss the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene on Western North Carolina and the emergency response efforts that followed. Taylor recounts the unprecedented challenges faced during the storm, including widespread landslides, failed communications, and the tragic loss of a firefighter. He details how emergency crews pre-deployed resources, but were caught off guard by the intensity of the disaster. Taylor shares how he coordinated with private partners, including Operation Hilo and Elon Musk’s Starlink, to restore communication and deliver vital supplies to remote communities.
Listen here for all of this and more on Breaking With Brett Jensen.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
News Talk eleven ten and ninety nine three WBT. Brett
Jenson here with you on this beautiful Wednesday night edition
of Breaking with Brett Jenson. Telephone numbers to get in
on the show seven O four five, seven eleven ten, Guys,
make sure you follow me on exit Brett Underscore Jensen
for all the latest and breaking news in and around
the Charlotte area. And that telephone number that I just
(00:20):
gave you, by the way, is also the WBT text
line driven by Liberty Buick and gmc okay.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So we've got a lot that we're going to get
into tonight.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I got a chance to interview North Kunta State Fire
Marshall Brian Taylor about the Hurricane Heleen situation. You know,
he was in charge of the fire departments and a
lot of the stuff going on up there from a
state standpoint, So we're going to talk to him as
well as Andy Kristman, the man up in the Broad
River area that really helped me out immensely last year.
He's the one that introduced me to bow Rising, the
(00:49):
gentleman that you heard, you know last Friday night where
I sat out on his front porch and interviewed him
it was Bow Rising's front yard where I did the
show last year. Well it was Andy that introduced me
to Bow So again I owe a lot to Andy Kristman,
and he's going to be joining us later tonight to
talk about the one year anniversary.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I didn't get a chance to talk.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
To him this weekend because he was actually out of
town on his anniversary.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Hurricane Heleen last year hit on his anniversary.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
So he decided to go out of town this past
weekend with his wife, and so we're going to catch
up with him tonight.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
But we're going to start off tonight.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
And I didn't get into it much last night because
you know, I had the Missin Mohammad interview going on.
But Dave Bullock, the North count Auditor, released the report,
and there's a lot of things in there that the
city is going to have a hard time answering, so
much so that they delayed their press conference from today.
They're supposed to happen today at today. I'm with the
city leaders. They pushed it back to Friday because they
(01:42):
now have to try and scramble and figure out ways
to answer for Dave Bullocks this North count State Auditor's report.
You're to interview with him earlier today with Pete Klener,
and I know Mark Garrison spoke to him as well.
So that's been on our station throughout the day. But
I want you to have just a quick summary of
what happened and then we'll address it afterwards. So here's
a quick report from Queen City News about what the
(02:04):
State Auditor Dave Bullock found concerning cats in the city
of Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Well.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
State officials are questioning Charlotte transit security strategies after an
external review and investigation by the North Carolina Auditor's Office
asserts and number of armed patrols are dropping. The cost
of cat security well, it's growing.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Queen City News anchors.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Van Runssell Live and Sound that with the details of
the new finding.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Savannah, good morning.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
Hey, good morning, Julian. Over the past three weeks, officials
with the State Auditor's Office have looked into the budgets
that Katz has been working with for their security team,
what kind of contracts they've entered with private security.
Speaker 6 (02:37):
Companies, and the data that they've been using to track writers' safety. Now,
in that time, they found that back in twenty eighteen,
the company that Cats had contracted with for private security
G four S Secure Solutions. It provided about one hundred
and eight guards, with sixty eight to eighty eight of
them armed. The current contract with Professional Policing Services that
(02:57):
allows for up to two hundred and nineteen security personnel
to patrol the cat's properties, only thirty nine of them
are armed now. The difference in cost is about three
times more than the contract that they had back in
twenty eighteen. This report also calls into question the city's
use of Charlotte Business Inclusion Program, which is designed to
create opportunities for minority in women owned businesses. State Auditor
(03:19):
Dave Bullick says that he's concerned that effective policing may
have been compromised by focusing on inclusion instead in a statement, quote,
the safety of the citizens of Charlotte needs to be
first and foremost when security decisions are being made. In response,
Mayor vy Lyles's office is defending the choice of contractor,
saying quote the report appears to suggest that PSS is
not qualified, but fails to offer specific evidence to support
(03:42):
that conclusion. PSS was chosen following a competitive process, also
adding that President Trump's security team chows the firm to
provide security on his campaign stops around the Carolinas during
his first run for office. Now, two other investigations are
still underway into the exact same policing strategies through Katz.
We were waiting to hear from the FBI as well
as the US Department of Transportation about their findings. The
(04:06):
CAT security officials and city leaders had planned originally to
today have a news conference with updated initiatives about security,
but they have since moved that to Friday reporting Live
in South Then Sabina Russell, Queen City News.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So you heard all that stuff about armed officers not
being as many even though the price of the contract tripled,
and like you know, Vi Lyles put out a very
weak statement. You know, look, this is what she does now.
They just don't put out very good statements. But you
know there will be more coming from the State Auditors'
office about this.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
And so look, it's been a bad week.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
It's actually been a bad six months or four months
for mayor of vill Lyles. I mean, it basically all
started in May with the Johnny Jennings actually maybe even
April with the Johnny Jennings payout, and then the Tripacari situation,
with him leaving like it's just not been a good
month or a good spring and good summer for Mayor
vill Lyles.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
And then we know about all the other stuff, considering.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Arena Zaruska, where Mayor vy Lyles became worldwide famous for
maybe the singularly worst statement ever given by a politician
in world history. Okay, that's an exaggeration, I know, but
at least at least in Charlotte history, and possibly North
Carolina history and possibly in Southeast history, but I'll say
(05:22):
just Charlotte history, because.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
It literally went global, all right.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
But with that being said, and then you had the
Judiciary Committee hearing here on Monday and talking about the
crime in Charlotte, and so that's what they were going
to have their press conference on.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And oh, look at the cats. We're looking at cats.
We're changing cats.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Really, you're only about ten years too late there. So
Friday will be a very very interesting press conference because
people who generally don't speak, who like to run and hide,
are now actually being forced to speak.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
So let's see how much they actually.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Speak when they're actually being held to the fire by
a lot of media. And I'm curious to hear what
questions have any hard ones that the media is going
to answer. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, so that'll
be interesting to see. Also with Mayor Vye laws the
City of Charlotte. I broke this story earlier today. The
City of Charlotte is now being sued by Daniel Redford.
(06:13):
I broke this story earlier this afternoon about how Daniel
Redford the head of the Charlotte Fraternal Order of Police.
He's also a current CMPD officer, but he has filed
a federal lawsuit against the City of Charlotte for saying
that his First Amendment rights are violated, his North Carolina
Constitutional rights are violated, that CNPD went after him with
(06:34):
reprisals concerning in retaliation concerning something that he and the
FOP were posting on Facebook, on their personal Facebook page
and their community Facebook page with the FOP, and he's saying, look,
you know that.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
You can't do that. You can't retaliate.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
He's saying that he was suspended for a week in
the lawsuit, that he lost wages, he lost benefits, and
that he had some emotional distress and pain and suffering,
and that they also took came off a very specialized assignment,
moved him off of that and then moved him to
just a regular patrol beat. All part of retaliation. And
I can tell you that is his lawyer because I
(07:11):
looked up his lawyer is a civil rights expert out
of the Raleigh area.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And this was all filed in federal court.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And this is now going to be facing the City
of Charlotte from the current Fraternal Order of Police in Charlotte,
the current Charlotte FOP president, Daniel Redford. It definitely has
not been a good week for the City of Charlotte
and Mayor of var Laws, but you've been able to
say that over the last several months. So when we
come back, my exclusive one on one interview with North
(07:38):
Kinda State fire Marshall Brian Taylor, as we talk about
everything that transpired a year ago concerning Hurricane Heleen, as
he was in charge of the fire departments and a
lot of the things going on to try and help
the mountains, and how he was being road blocked by
state leaders. So we'll talk about that when we return,
but right now we'll swinging over to the WT Traffic
Center with Pam Warner News Talk eleven, ten and ninety
(08:03):
nine three WBT. Brett Jensen here with you on this
Wednesday night edition of Breaking with Brett Jenson. As we
go up until seven o'clock. Okay, So I didn't get
a chance to play this. I wanted to play this
on Monday, but obviously with the hearing being in town,
the Subcommittee, the Judiciary House Committee having their hearing here
in town, I didn't get a chance to do all
this on Monday. But late last week on Thursday, I
(08:25):
sat down for a one on one interview with the
North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
State Fire Marshall, Brian Taylor.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Brian is in charge of you know, the fire departments
and stuff like that, but he's also was the leader
or one of the leading people in terms of the
mountains last year following Hurricane Heleen. So I wanted to
talk to him on the one year anniversary of Hurricane
Heleen on what that week was like and the preceding
weeks immediately following the hurricane and things that he was
trying to accomplish. So here's my one on one interview
(08:52):
with the North Carolina State Fire Marshal Brian Taylor. So
I'm with Brian Taylor at the North Klanta State Fire
Marshall talk about September twenty seventh, September twenty sixth, even.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
The day beforehand when Hurricane Helen hit.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
What kind of preparations were they're talking about, Like, what
were you exactly expecting? Because I don't think anyone could expect.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
What actually happened.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
So what were the experts saying and telling you about
the hurricanes leading up to it?
Speaker 7 (09:19):
So under the State of e Merency Operation Plan, the
State Fire Marshall Response is responsible for structural fire protection
for North Carolina. So we are in the State of
Mercy Operation Plan. We pre deploy and prepare for disaster
areas or what we look at could be disaster areas.
So we manned the Emerency Operations Center Joint Force Headquarters
(09:41):
with staff. We did pre deploy some folks in western
North Carolina preparing for the flooding on the request of
the locals a local emergency management That request has to
be made by them. We just can't self deploy, so
once a request comes in, we will send staff embedded
in their emergency operation center preparing for any type of
(10:02):
disaster that could be coming our way. With that, we
also have fire departments ROSTRUPP or across the state. Basically,
they were going to our rostering system. I have an
engine in four people that we can respond to help
if there is any need. I don't believe that we
were prepared or were looking for the amount of landslides.
(10:23):
We know the amount of rain that we had, but
did we think that it was going to settle on
top of us?
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Know, we had no clue about that.
Speaker 7 (10:31):
We're prepared or we're used to the coastal hurricane, coastal flooding.
What we weren't prepared for in western North Carolina is
that a lot of those locations did not have generation.
They didn't have power backup in a lot of the locations.
And then of course when you start having the landslides
(10:53):
and washing out communities. And we had a fire department
that actually firefighters had to get on top of a
fire truck and cut their way out of.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
The roof to escape.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
And we had fire departments with eighteen foot of water
in them, So we lost a lot of equipment. Sadly,
we lost one firefighter while trying to make a rescue.
We had a location where fire chief was pulling people
out of the water and trying to retestitate those. So
it was a very difficult situation, but we tried to
(11:23):
prepare by pre deploying and having mission ready packages to
respond for structural fire protection and let's see that's where
we need to would rescue.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Speaking with Brian Taylor, the northern kind of State fire Marshal,
so communications are going to be cut off because of
cell towers and everything else. Are how were you able
to start managing and trying to like, okay, this is
next level. We need to get into as many communities
as we possibly kind, especially the very remote ones that
may have had harder access to get to. How are
you guys able to communicate with a lot of these
(11:55):
people and a lot of the different fire departments, because
that seems like a task that would be impossible.
Speaker 7 (12:00):
Yet, So once we determined the severity of it and
we were cut off from community communications and we had
folks in the field, it was like, what do we
need to get them assistance? So I was first contacted
by a private company that I work with have a
relationship with out of Louisiana. He has a jet. He says, Brian,
(12:22):
what do you need help with? I says, we're having
a hard time access in these areas, especially Ashville, to
understand how bad it really is because we have no communications,
I understand to sell companies moved all their backup equipment
to Florida preparing for this storm, so everything that they
have for backup was there, so it was delayed for
communications in western North Carolina. So I was picked up
(12:46):
by this company and flown into Asheville, which was a
heroic stunt in itself. I was able to get to
the Buncome County EOC and to see what some of
their needs were. And the most important need that they
were stressing to me was basically their water treatment facility
was down and infrastructure and we seen that roads were out,
(13:08):
We seen that there was no water power.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
And of course communications.
Speaker 7 (13:14):
Luckily that business had a starlink that they left Weulcolm
County and we were able to start communicating back to Raleigh.
And at that time I put a request in because
that was their most urgent need was needing water treatment
and domestic water and not only that for fire protection
water to protect their communities.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
So after leaving that I had.
Speaker 7 (13:37):
Looked and said, look, what's the most important thing in
these communities because it's widespread and the chaos that was
going on, is that it's important for us to reach
every fire department and how can we do that. There
was no way we could do it by land. Once
I got back and started gathering our troops and how
(13:57):
are we going to manage this? I was introduced to
an organization, Operation Helo, which was originated out of the storm.
They had what I would say a sister group called
Operation Air Drop Out of Florida, which is a fixed
wing unit. So they started calling in pilots HELO pilots
(14:18):
from all over the country and says we need help.
I teamed up with them and said, look, if we
get to the fire departments, that's the center of every community,
and if we could start providing communications with them and
see what resources they need, generators, medical supplies, we could
then start rebuilding that community and getting it on its
(14:39):
feet and work out from there.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
It would give a central hub for people to go
for refuge if they needed. We were very successful.
Speaker 7 (14:46):
I flew eleven straight days and so that was the
first game changer was Operation HELO. I rode three days
with individuals like the person that created Curves Gim's I
would consider him a b and air from Texas. I
flew with him from three states three straight days to
(15:06):
areas providing supplies, generators, and then I was also privileged
to be the one delivered the first starlink from Elon
Musk that President Trump had contacted him on. We delivered
that to Garon Creek where the firefighter had passed by
while trying to rescue victims out of the waters there
(15:28):
at Gearon Creek Fire Department. So that was an honor
to be able to do that. So really the game
changer was Operation Helo and the communication from Starlinks to
be able to get community set up for communications, and
it was so interesting to be able to go to
some areas and see how they were doing message boards
through the communities riding motorcycles. I never seen any horses,
(15:52):
but I think there was probably some horses that were
running that and we imagine what it was used to
be like in the early days. But you know, the
people of the North Carolina Western North Carolina are so
resilient and there were so.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Many instances that touched me.
Speaker 7 (16:09):
You think you were touching them, but they touched us
as responders. And we had people from all over the
country come in and help. But the key component of
that was and the importance of people trust their.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Local fire firefighters.
Speaker 7 (16:23):
We had people traveling, nurses from around the country. Of course,
we had the FEMA, the federal and state people in there.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
If you were not in a fire.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
Vehicle and or a shirt that signifies that you were
a fire service, you were allowed on the property. So
that's a key component to understand the value of your
local community fire department and how it all starts local
for the response.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Wait we return, we'll continue my conversation with the North
Kinsa State Fire Marshall, Brian Taylor. But right now, let's
swing on over to the wt newsroom with Anna Erickson.
Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jenson on this Wednesday night.
All right, so we'll continue my conversation with North Kunta
State Fire Marshal Brian Taylor. He's got a very fascinating
story of what he was involved with last year and
Hurricane Heleen, and a lot of the road blocks that
(17:09):
government officials put forth in him while he was trying
to help in the recovery. Let's go back to the
water treatment situation, because you talked about how that was
such a necessity.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
How did that end up working out.
Speaker 7 (17:20):
So the concern there was is when we were able
to get communications up at Mankholm County and I put
that request through as the state Fire Marshal request and
that it never got approved. And I never got a
clear understanding of why home it did not get approved
by state Emergency Management. And that was concerning because I
(17:41):
guess there's contracts that they have in place. But this
is where we go and look is that the federal
state government can't do it alone. When you have private industry,
private businesses, and you have nonprofits that are stepping up
and that can help it cuts out the red taping bureaucracy.
And we were faced with so much bureaucracy during this storm.
(18:02):
And I think that's why it's so important that the
overhaul of FEMA and emergency management is so important.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Now.
Speaker 7 (18:10):
I'm not saying that the work that was done by
North Coe Emergency Management and or the FEMA teams. They
did great work planning, preparing for recovery and working through
that recovery. But we have to be open minded and
work outside the box to be efficient and take cutting
out that red tapureocracy. So many people are concerned about fraud.
(18:34):
Who's claiming what insurance coverages, who's paying for what the
fire service is resilient. We're going to go help our
brother and sister and worry about who's going to pay
for the bill later. Right now, what's most important is
to help our brother and sister out in our communities
and the citizens we serve.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Speak of North kind of State Fire Marshall Brian Taylor
on the one year anniversary of Hurricane Heleen hitting mountains. So, now,
I know you travel the country and you give speeches
and you give seminars, and I'm sure everyone all over
the country when you speak to them want to talk
about Hurricane Heleen. What have you learned from them that
(19:13):
you're able to tell other fire marshals and other fire
communities across the country.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
The key to it is preparedness.
Speaker 7 (19:21):
You know, it's not if the next storm, it's just
when the next storm is going to hit, and we
need to be prepared. And we first and foremost need
to be prepared with communications. What is your backup or
redundance of communications to be prepared for that, if it's radio,
or if it's seal communications or internet communications generation, have
(19:42):
power back up for a facility for your community not
only for your your facility, but what are you going
to do for your community in that area? And then
of course just preparing and educating the community of self
sufficient for the first seventy two hours. As we've seen
(20:02):
there is that, you know, it was seventy two hours
before I could fly in to that area, and so
I was able to do that outside of the government
model that we're so used to working in.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
So now let's get back to the private ventures a
little bit. So the state emergency management system says, no,
you can't have you know, a private company work with
the water treatment system. Is just simply because they had contracts.
Was there anyone, whether it's the governor, whether it's the president,
whether it was anybody that could overrule that or That's
just the way it was and nothing could change it.
Speaker 7 (20:38):
So in requests that go through the locals, it goes
through your local emergency management, Emergency management to the Western branch,
restauranm branch to the state office. It probably goes through
three days before anything can be approved. That red tape
bureaucracy is what is really crippling us to get help efficiently.
And it goes back to the fraud world trying to
(21:01):
prevent fraud and things of that nature. But no one
knows more than what the person in the field has seen.
I was there, I physically seen. I knew we could
do things and make a difference and get things there efficiently,
So there could have been contracts in place. You know,
in state bureaucracy, purchasing during a disaster is is crippling
(21:23):
because of a curement processes that we have to go
through during disaster. And I've spoke to the governor personally
and I think other agencies to fossal Service because our
next concern in western North Carolina is the wildfires.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
For the next fifteen years.
Speaker 7 (21:38):
Yes, we've had some wildfires, but the effect of Helene
is going to make it difficult and very rich for
fires over the next fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
We've got to be prepared for that as well.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
So is that because of all the debris that's now
there that wasn't there before.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
That is correct.
Speaker 7 (21:53):
You just look at this basically match sticks every which way.
The Forrester Service cannot light those fires traditionally by going
in and cutting lines backfiring. You know, our concern always
is communities protecting communities. You go in and burn out
areas to protect communities. I'm very concerned, and I think
(22:16):
the Fosal Services concerned is that the amount of damage
Helen left will make it difficult protect those communities. The
only way we're going to protect those communities by air operations.
That's contracting and or looking at our legislators or the
governor providing funding to provide air support when this takes place.
(22:37):
Now it seems that it's just a wish list asked,
but it is. We was proven dearing Helene. The air
operation is the only way we were able to do business.
So we're having to think outside the box and educate
our legislature, legislature and the governor the importance of putting
preparedness money toward how we're going to operate. And they're
(23:01):
going to have to listen to the Foster Service. They're
gonna have to listen to professionals like me that's been
there and provided the protection.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Last bet here with Brian Taylor, the North Kina State
Fire Marshal. So, is there anything and I in most
interviews this way, is there anything that you'd like to
say or talk about that I haven't asked you about,
or anything that you'd like to say to the listeners
or anyone who's listening, is there any particular thing that
you'd like to say.
Speaker 7 (23:25):
I'm just very grateful for the private nonprofits that have
stepped up and provided the assistance, you know. And I
go back to the operation. Heilo is sitting at Hickory
Airport and we had a what we call a firebase
camp at the community college there in Hickory. But the
amount of people that drove up to the Hickory Airport
to just give twenty dollars bill towards the fuel. I
(23:46):
can tell you the fuel bill at one time was
eight hundred thousand dollars of the fuel that was operating
those aircraft. And I know some Aridans purse paid a
lot of that bill overall. But I can tell you
that the individual from Texas I flew, he says, if
they would not have had that funding, I would have
paid it myself.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
And that was just it was really.
Speaker 7 (24:07):
Eye opening to see the outporting of support of private citizens,
private companies, and of course nonprofits that done so much
work good work during that response. And like I said,
we're going to need to embrace that and incorporate them
into a response from FEMA, from the federal government to
(24:29):
the state government, to local government, We're going to have
to change the way we do business to be effective
during emergencies.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
North Kinda State Fire Marshal, Brian Taylor, I really do
appreciate your time today, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Thank you, sir, appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
So really thanks again to Brian Taylor, the North Carolina
State Fire Marshal, for taking the time to sit down
and talk with me.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
And I look forward to continuing.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
This relationship as we go for the He's a very
important man in the state of North Carolina. All Right,
when we return, I got one more interview that I
want to share with you, and it's going to be
a really, really.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Good one and about Hurricane Heleen.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
And it's one of the main people that helped me
out last year that lives up there in the Broad
River area.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
So that's coming up next.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
But right now, let's bring on over to the WBT
Traffic Center with Pam Warner. Welcome back to Breaking with
Brad Jensen on this Wednesday night. Okay, Joining me now
is Andy Criestman. Andy Kreesman lives up in the Broad
River area halfway between bat Cave and Black Mountain, and
he helped me out a lot last year. Been he
was like my boots on the ground, my ears to
(25:30):
the ground, like he was my eyes. He was everything
for me last year, hooking me up and with that
big town hall that we had with like forty fifty
people showing up. And so Andy is joining me now.
And Andy, first of all, thanks for joining me. And
second of all, you know, I really wanted to talk
to you about what it's like up there one year later.
You're on your anniversary this past weekend, so I didn't
(25:50):
get a chance to see you, So just talk about
this right now, like where we are one year after
the fact.
Speaker 8 (25:57):
Oh well, there's still just a lot of questions, I
suppose concerning the priorities, you know, as far as trying
to get over the storm. It seems like for me,
the big priority that I've seen is the streams and
(26:21):
river clean up. They've brought in crews from all over
the country with these big knuckle boom trucks. They've gotten
every stick and twig and tree and stump and limb
out of our creeks and rivers here, which causes a
whole another concern for many of us and that you know,
(26:44):
that's not how our rivers have been over the years.
Now they're like beaches in places. I mean when I
say they've cleaned it, I mean they took everything away
but the rocks and the water. It's just been really
something to see. And it seems as if we put
more emphasis on getting that done and we have our
(27:08):
basic infrastructure. Our roads are still in bad shape. Summer,
you'll get worse by the day. On our road between
where I live in the town of Black Mountain, we
still have four areas that have tipperary stop lots and
we're still single laning. And they've made progress, but it's
(27:30):
been painfully slow. And the folks down in the bat
Cave area they are still they're still just devastated. It's
still just one little lane trail down at the end
of number nine and a few stores of open back
up down in Chimney Rock. But it's just seemed to
(27:51):
be really slow. Lake Lewer is still in just terrible conditions.
They're still dredging and getting the sea and all the
debris that washed into the lake. They're still still working
on that seven days a week. I don't know, it's
it's it's been been something to see, mostly I guess
(28:16):
inconveniences for us at this point. But over in around
Black Mountain, Swanola, where we have so much devastation, there's
still a lot of people that don't have homes.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
You know, Andy, you know, a few weeks after the
hurricane went through and you helped him put together that
town hall, and about forty fifty people shut up, including
that ninety year old woman who walked, you know, like
a third of a mile to be part of it,
and it was very cold that night. What about the
people that were there that night, Like, are they still around?
Do they still lived there? Did some pick up and move?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Like?
Speaker 1 (28:48):
How many people are still there?
Speaker 8 (28:52):
They all stayed. All the folks, with the exception of
one family that I'm recalling, All those folks are what
we'll say, are native to that area. They were born
and raised and raised their families and buried their families
and lived their whole lives right there. So they're not
(29:12):
going anywhere. So our friend who's at home there where
we met, you know, they lost their home. They are
in the process of beginning to rebuild now in a
different spot, but still in the community. There's no way
they were going to build back on that river side.
But everyone has pretty much moved along and back to
(29:38):
back to life. I mean, just sorting to adapt with
like I say, inconvenience as we have now. But all
those folks that we're there are doing well and back
to living life.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Speaking of Andy Kristman up in the Broad River area,
who was very instrumental in helping me out last year
going up there and doing a lot of reporting. So, Andy,
is there anything that you want the listeners to know,
you know, going west towards Shelby or going east you
know into Monroe or you know Concord Rock Hill. Is
there anything that you want anyone to know that's listening
to us right now?
Speaker 8 (30:16):
Well, I would tell them this. I tell them that
the Black Mountain area, Ashy area, they're pretty much open
for business now, you know, they depend on the tourism.
The Builtmore section of Ashville. There's not much business, not
retail business that's open anymore. They're still boarded up, still
(30:38):
work and still repairing. Black Mountain is pretty much one
hundred percent normal. So when it comes to that part
of it, I would tell them that, you know, they're
open for business, and would appreciate the business, but stay
in town because when you venture out of town and
(31:03):
you start down Highway nine, it's still got some pretty
rough sections, still a lot of work going on. When
you get on the back roads, you still see a
lot of damage. There's a lot of bridges that were
you know, two lane bridges that have been replaced with
just temporary one lane bridges and things like that. So
(31:26):
if if folks are coming to visit, stay in town.
I don't mean to be blunt about it, but that
would be my advice.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Again, Anti Creaseman, I really do appreciate you taking the
time to talk to me and also helping me out
a whole lot last year, because none of that would
have been possible without your help.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
So again, thank you for joining us tonight.
Speaker 8 (31:46):
Oh yes, sir, And I mean I really appreciate you,
not forgetting about us. You know, we are still up here,
are still people hurting, still needing help. There are still
people living in campers and temporary facilities, and I'm still
counting on you know, food banks, and still people who
(32:09):
are are helping and bring in supplies. And from what
I understand, when you go north of here up into
the art Mitchell County around Barnesville, all those areas up
in there around Spruce Time, they still have a lot
of destruction. I've not been up there. I'm not a
(32:31):
guy just to ride around and look at everybody's hardship.
But you know, some people that is their job and
it's not mine that I do here. They still have
some really really tough conditions up in there, so just
don't forget about us. And I appreciate you touching basement.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
There you have at my interview with Andy Creastman, and
again just a super super nice guy and I owe
a lot to him. I also want to thank North
Kulina State Fire Marshall Brian Taylor joining me earlier and
doing a one on one interview with me. Look forward
to doing this all over again tomorrow. The TJ Whichie
Show is coming up next. My name is Brett
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Jensen, and you have been listening to Breaking with Brett Jensen.
News Talk eleven ten and ninety nine three WBT. Brett
Jenson here with you on this beautiful Wednesday night edition
of Breaking with Brett Jenson. Telephone numbers to get in
on the show seven O four five, seven eleven ten, Guys,
make sure you follow me on exit Brett Underscore Jensen
for all the latest and breaking news in and around
the Charlotte area. And that telephone number that I just
(00:20):
gave you, by the way, is also the WBT text
line driven by Liberty Buick and gmc okay.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So we've got a lot that we're going to get
into tonight.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I got a chance to interview North Kunta State Fire
Marshall Brian Taylor about the Hurricane Heleen situation. You know,
he was in charge of the fire departments and a
lot of the stuff going on up there from a
state standpoint, So we're going to talk to him as
well as Andy Kristman, the man up in the Broad
River area that really helped me out immensely last year.
He's the one that introduced me to bow Rising, the
(00:49):
gentleman that you heard, you know last Friday night where
I sat out on his front porch and interviewed him
it was Bow Rising's front yard where I did the
show last year. Well it was Andy that introduced me
to Bow So again I owe a lot to Andy Kristman,
and he's going to be joining us later tonight to
talk about the one year anniversary.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I didn't get a chance to talk.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
To him this weekend because he was actually out of
town on his anniversary.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Hurricane Heleen last year hit on his anniversary.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
So he decided to go out of town this past
weekend with his wife, and so we're going to catch
up with him tonight.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
But we're going to start off tonight.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
And I didn't get into it much last night because
you know, I had the Missin Mohammad interview going on.
But Dave Bullock, the North count Auditor, released the report,
and there's a lot of things in there that the
city is going to have a hard time answering, so
much so that they delayed their press conference from today.
They're supposed to happen today at today. I'm with the
city leaders. They pushed it back to Friday because they
(01:42):
now have to try and scramble and figure out ways
to answer for Dave Bullocks this North count State Auditor's report.
You're to interview with him earlier today with Pete Klener,
and I know Mark Garrison spoke to him as well.
So that's been on our station throughout the day. But
I want you to have just a quick summary of
what happened and then we'll address it afterwards. So here's
a quick report from Queen City News about what the
(02:04):
State Auditor Dave Bullock found concerning cats in the city
of Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Well.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
State officials are questioning Charlotte transit security strategies after an
external review and investigation by the North Carolina Auditor's Office
asserts and number of armed patrols are dropping. The cost
of cat security well, it's growing.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Queen City News anchors.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Van Runssell Live and Sound that with the details of
the new finding.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Savannah, good morning.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
Hey, good morning, Julian. Over the past three weeks, officials
with the State Auditor's Office have looked into the budgets
that Katz has been working with for their security team,
what kind of contracts they've entered with private security.
Speaker 6 (02:37):
Companies, and the data that they've been using to track writers' safety. Now,
in that time, they found that back in twenty eighteen,
the company that Cats had contracted with for private security
G four S Secure Solutions. It provided about one hundred
and eight guards, with sixty eight to eighty eight of
them armed. The current contract with Professional Policing Services that
(02:57):
allows for up to two hundred and nineteen security personnel
to patrol the cat's properties, only thirty nine of them
are armed now. The difference in cost is about three
times more than the contract that they had back in
twenty eighteen. This report also calls into question the city's
use of Charlotte Business Inclusion Program, which is designed to
create opportunities for minority in women owned businesses. State Auditor
(03:19):
Dave Bullick says that he's concerned that effective policing may
have been compromised by focusing on inclusion instead in a statement, quote,
the safety of the citizens of Charlotte needs to be
first and foremost when security decisions are being made. In response,
Mayor vy Lyles's office is defending the choice of contractor,
saying quote the report appears to suggest that PSS is
not qualified, but fails to offer specific evidence to support
(03:42):
that conclusion. PSS was chosen following a competitive process, also
adding that President Trump's security team chows the firm to
provide security on his campaign stops around the Carolinas during
his first run for office. Now, two other investigations are
still underway into the exact same policing strategies through Katz.
We were waiting to hear from the FBI as well
as the US Department of Transportation about their findings. The
(04:06):
CAT security officials and city leaders had planned originally to
today have a news conference with updated initiatives about security,
but they have since moved that to Friday reporting Live
in South Then Sabina Russell, Queen City News.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So you heard all that stuff about armed officers not
being as many even though the price of the contract tripled,
and like you know, Vi Lyles put out a very
weak statement. You know, look, this is what she does now.
They just don't put out very good statements. But you
know there will be more coming from the State Auditors'
office about this.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
And so look, it's been a bad week.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
It's actually been a bad six months or four months
for mayor of vill Lyles. I mean, it basically all
started in May with the Johnny Jennings actually maybe even
April with the Johnny Jennings payout, and then the Tripacari situation,
with him leaving like it's just not been a good
month or a good spring and good summer for Mayor
vill Lyles.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
And then we know about all the other stuff, considering.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Arena Zaruska, where Mayor vy Lyles became worldwide famous for
maybe the singularly worst statement ever given by a politician
in world history. Okay, that's an exaggeration, I know, but
at least at least in Charlotte history, and possibly North
Carolina history and possibly in Southeast history, but I'll say
(05:22):
just Charlotte history, because.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
It literally went global, all right.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
But with that being said, and then you had the
Judiciary Committee hearing here on Monday and talking about the
crime in Charlotte, and so that's what they were going
to have their press conference on.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And oh, look at the cats. We're looking at cats.
We're changing cats.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Really, you're only about ten years too late there. So
Friday will be a very very interesting press conference because
people who generally don't speak, who like to run and hide,
are now actually being forced to speak.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
So let's see how much they actually.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Speak when they're actually being held to the fire by
a lot of media. And I'm curious to hear what
questions have any hard ones that the media is going
to answer. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, so that'll
be interesting to see. Also with Mayor Vye laws the
City of Charlotte. I broke this story earlier today. The
City of Charlotte is now being sued by Daniel Redford.
(06:13):
I broke this story earlier this afternoon about how Daniel
Redford the head of the Charlotte Fraternal Order of Police.
He's also a current CMPD officer, but he has filed
a federal lawsuit against the City of Charlotte for saying
that his First Amendment rights are violated, his North Carolina
Constitutional rights are violated, that CNPD went after him with
(06:34):
reprisals concerning in retaliation concerning something that he and the
FOP were posting on Facebook, on their personal Facebook page
and their community Facebook page with the FOP, and he's saying, look,
you know that.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
You can't do that. You can't retaliate.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
He's saying that he was suspended for a week in
the lawsuit, that he lost wages, he lost benefits, and
that he had some emotional distress and pain and suffering,
and that they also took came off a very specialized assignment,
moved him off of that and then moved him to
just a regular patrol beat. All part of retaliation. And
I can tell you that is his lawyer because I
(07:11):
looked up his lawyer is a civil rights expert out
of the Raleigh area.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And this was all filed in federal court.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And this is now going to be facing the City
of Charlotte from the current Fraternal Order of Police in Charlotte,
the current Charlotte FOP president, Daniel Redford. It definitely has
not been a good week for the City of Charlotte
and Mayor of var Laws, but you've been able to
say that over the last several months. So when we
come back, my exclusive one on one interview with North
(07:38):
Kinda State fire Marshall Brian Taylor, as we talk about
everything that transpired a year ago concerning Hurricane Heleen, as
he was in charge of the fire departments and a
lot of the things going on to try and help
the mountains, and how he was being road blocked by
state leaders. So we'll talk about that when we return,
but right now we'll swinging over to the WT Traffic
Center with Pam Warner News Talk eleven, ten and ninety
(08:03):
nine three WBT. Brett Jensen here with you on this
Wednesday night edition of Breaking with Brett Jenson. As we
go up until seven o'clock. Okay, So I didn't get
a chance to play this. I wanted to play this
on Monday, but obviously with the hearing being in town,
the Subcommittee, the Judiciary House Committee having their hearing here
in town, I didn't get a chance to do all
this on Monday. But late last week on Thursday, I
(08:25):
sat down for a one on one interview with the
North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
State Fire Marshall, Brian Taylor.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Brian is in charge of you know, the fire departments
and stuff like that, but he's also was the leader
or one of the leading people in terms of the
mountains last year following Hurricane Heleen. So I wanted to
talk to him on the one year anniversary of Hurricane
Heleen on what that week was like and the preceding
weeks immediately following the hurricane and things that he was
trying to accomplish. So here's my one on one interview
(08:52):
with the North Carolina State Fire Marshal Brian Taylor. So
I'm with Brian Taylor at the North Klanta State Fire
Marshall talk about September twenty seventh, September twenty sixth, even.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
The day beforehand when Hurricane Helen hit.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
What kind of preparations were they're talking about, Like, what
were you exactly expecting? Because I don't think anyone could expect.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
What actually happened.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
So what were the experts saying and telling you about
the hurricanes leading up to it?
Speaker 7 (09:19):
So under the State of e Merency Operation Plan, the
State Fire Marshall Response is responsible for structural fire protection
for North Carolina. So we are in the State of
Mercy Operation Plan. We pre deploy and prepare for disaster
areas or what we look at could be disaster areas.
So we manned the Emerency Operations Center Joint Force Headquarters
(09:41):
with staff. We did pre deploy some folks in western
North Carolina preparing for the flooding on the request of
the locals a local emergency management That request has to
be made by them. We just can't self deploy, so
once a request comes in, we will send staff embedded
in their emergency operation center preparing for any type of
(10:02):
disaster that could be coming our way. With that, we
also have fire departments ROSTRUPP or across the state. Basically,
they were going to our rostering system. I have an
engine in four people that we can respond to help
if there is any need. I don't believe that we
were prepared or were looking for the amount of landslides.
(10:23):
We know the amount of rain that we had, but
did we think that it was going to settle on
top of us?
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Know, we had no clue about that.
Speaker 7 (10:31):
We're prepared or we're used to the coastal hurricane, coastal flooding.
What we weren't prepared for in western North Carolina is
that a lot of those locations did not have generation.
They didn't have power backup in a lot of the locations.
And then of course when you start having the landslides
(10:53):
and washing out communities. And we had a fire department
that actually firefighters had to get on top of a
fire truck and cut their way out of.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
The roof to escape.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
And we had fire departments with eighteen foot of water
in them, So we lost a lot of equipment. Sadly,
we lost one firefighter while trying to make a rescue.
We had a location where fire chief was pulling people
out of the water and trying to retestitate those. So
it was a very difficult situation, but we tried to
(11:23):
prepare by pre deploying and having mission ready packages to
respond for structural fire protection and let's see that's where
we need to would rescue.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Speaking with Brian Taylor, the northern kind of State fire Marshal,
so communications are going to be cut off because of
cell towers and everything else. Are how were you able
to start managing and trying to like, okay, this is
next level. We need to get into as many communities
as we possibly kind, especially the very remote ones that
may have had harder access to get to. How are
you guys able to communicate with a lot of these
(11:55):
people and a lot of the different fire departments, because
that seems like a task that would be impossible.
Speaker 7 (12:00):
Yet, So once we determined the severity of it and
we were cut off from community communications and we had
folks in the field, it was like, what do we
need to get them assistance? So I was first contacted
by a private company that I work with have a
relationship with out of Louisiana. He has a jet. He says, Brian,
(12:22):
what do you need help with? I says, we're having
a hard time access in these areas, especially Ashville, to
understand how bad it really is because we have no communications,
I understand to sell companies moved all their backup equipment
to Florida preparing for this storm, so everything that they
have for backup was there, so it was delayed for
communications in western North Carolina. So I was picked up
(12:46):
by this company and flown into Asheville, which was a
heroic stunt in itself. I was able to get to
the Buncome County EOC and to see what some of
their needs were. And the most important need that they
were stressing to me was basically their water treatment facility
was down and infrastructure and we seen that roads were out,
(13:08):
We seen that there was no water power.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
And of course communications.
Speaker 7 (13:14):
Luckily that business had a starlink that they left Weulcolm
County and we were able to start communicating back to Raleigh.
And at that time I put a request in because
that was their most urgent need was needing water treatment
and domestic water and not only that for fire protection
water to protect their communities.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
So after leaving that I had.
Speaker 7 (13:37):
Looked and said, look, what's the most important thing in
these communities because it's widespread and the chaos that was
going on, is that it's important for us to reach
every fire department and how can we do that. There
was no way we could do it by land. Once
I got back and started gathering our troops and how
(13:57):
are we going to manage this? I was introduced to
an organization, Operation Helo, which was originated out of the storm.
They had what I would say a sister group called
Operation Air Drop Out of Florida, which is a fixed
wing unit. So they started calling in pilots HELO pilots
(14:18):
from all over the country and says we need help.
I teamed up with them and said, look, if we
get to the fire departments, that's the center of every community,
and if we could start providing communications with them and
see what resources they need, generators, medical supplies, we could
then start rebuilding that community and getting it on its
(14:39):
feet and work out from there.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
It would give a central hub for people to go
for refuge if they needed. We were very successful.
Speaker 7 (14:46):
I flew eleven straight days and so that was the
first game changer was Operation HELO. I rode three days
with individuals like the person that created Curves Gim's I
would consider him a b and air from Texas. I
flew with him from three states three straight days to
(15:06):
areas providing supplies, generators, and then I was also privileged
to be the one delivered the first starlink from Elon
Musk that President Trump had contacted him on. We delivered
that to Garon Creek where the firefighter had passed by
while trying to rescue victims out of the waters there
(15:28):
at Gearon Creek Fire Department. So that was an honor
to be able to do that. So really the game
changer was Operation Helo and the communication from Starlinks to
be able to get community set up for communications, and
it was so interesting to be able to go to
some areas and see how they were doing message boards
through the communities riding motorcycles. I never seen any horses,
(15:52):
but I think there was probably some horses that were
running that and we imagine what it was used to
be like in the early days. But you know, the
people of the North Carolina Western North Carolina are so
resilient and there were so.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Many instances that touched me.
Speaker 7 (16:09):
You think you were touching them, but they touched us
as responders. And we had people from all over the
country come in and help. But the key component of
that was and the importance of people trust their.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Local fire firefighters.
Speaker 7 (16:23):
We had people traveling, nurses from around the country. Of course,
we had the FEMA, the federal and state people in there.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
If you were not in a fire.
Speaker 7 (16:32):
Vehicle and or a shirt that signifies that you were
a fire service, you were allowed on the property. So
that's a key component to understand the value of your
local community fire department and how it all starts local
for the response.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Wait we return, we'll continue my conversation with the North
Kinsa State Fire Marshall, Brian Taylor. But right now, let's
swing on over to the wt newsroom with Anna Erickson.
Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jenson on this Wednesday night.
All right, so we'll continue my conversation with North Kunta
State Fire Marshal Brian Taylor. He's got a very fascinating
story of what he was involved with last year and
Hurricane Heleen, and a lot of the road blocks that
(17:09):
government officials put forth in him while he was trying
to help in the recovery. Let's go back to the
water treatment situation, because you talked about how that was
such a necessity.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
How did that end up working out.
Speaker 7 (17:20):
So the concern there was is when we were able
to get communications up at Mankholm County and I put
that request through as the state Fire Marshal request and
that it never got approved. And I never got a
clear understanding of why home it did not get approved
by state Emergency Management. And that was concerning because I
(17:41):
guess there's contracts that they have in place. But this
is where we go and look is that the federal
state government can't do it alone. When you have private industry,
private businesses, and you have nonprofits that are stepping up
and that can help it cuts out the red taping bureaucracy.
And we were faced with so much bureaucracy during this storm.
(18:02):
And I think that's why it's so important that the
overhaul of FEMA and emergency management is so important.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Now.
Speaker 7 (18:10):
I'm not saying that the work that was done by
North Coe Emergency Management and or the FEMA teams. They
did great work planning, preparing for recovery and working through
that recovery. But we have to be open minded and
work outside the box to be efficient and take cutting
out that red tapureocracy. So many people are concerned about fraud.
(18:34):
Who's claiming what insurance coverages, who's paying for what the
fire service is resilient. We're going to go help our
brother and sister and worry about who's going to pay
for the bill later. Right now, what's most important is
to help our brother and sister out in our communities
and the citizens we serve.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Speak of North kind of State Fire Marshall Brian Taylor
on the one year anniversary of Hurricane Heleen hitting mountains. So, now,
I know you travel the country and you give speeches
and you give seminars, and I'm sure everyone all over
the country when you speak to them want to talk
about Hurricane Heleen. What have you learned from them that
(19:13):
you're able to tell other fire marshals and other fire
communities across the country.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
The key to it is preparedness.
Speaker 7 (19:21):
You know, it's not if the next storm, it's just
when the next storm is going to hit, and we
need to be prepared. And we first and foremost need
to be prepared with communications. What is your backup or
redundance of communications to be prepared for that, if it's radio,
or if it's seal communications or internet communications generation, have
(19:42):
power back up for a facility for your community not
only for your your facility, but what are you going
to do for your community in that area? And then
of course just preparing and educating the community of self
sufficient for the first seventy two hours. As we've seen
(20:02):
there is that, you know, it was seventy two hours
before I could fly in to that area, and so
I was able to do that outside of the government
model that we're so used to working in.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
So now let's get back to the private ventures a
little bit. So the state emergency management system says, no,
you can't have you know, a private company work with
the water treatment system. Is just simply because they had contracts.
Was there anyone, whether it's the governor, whether it's the president,
whether it was anybody that could overrule that or That's
just the way it was and nothing could change it.
Speaker 7 (20:38):
So in requests that go through the locals, it goes
through your local emergency management, Emergency management to the Western branch,
restauranm branch to the state office. It probably goes through
three days before anything can be approved. That red tape
bureaucracy is what is really crippling us to get help efficiently.
And it goes back to the fraud world trying to
(21:01):
prevent fraud and things of that nature. But no one
knows more than what the person in the field has seen.
I was there, I physically seen. I knew we could
do things and make a difference and get things there efficiently,
So there could have been contracts in place. You know,
in state bureaucracy, purchasing during a disaster is is crippling
(21:23):
because of a curement processes that we have to go
through during disaster. And I've spoke to the governor personally
and I think other agencies to fossal Service because our
next concern in western North Carolina is the wildfires.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
For the next fifteen years.
Speaker 7 (21:38):
Yes, we've had some wildfires, but the effect of Helene
is going to make it difficult and very rich for
fires over the next fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
We've got to be prepared for that as well.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
So is that because of all the debris that's now
there that wasn't there before.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
That is correct.
Speaker 7 (21:53):
You just look at this basically match sticks every which way.
The Forrester Service cannot light those fires traditionally by going
in and cutting lines backfiring. You know, our concern always
is communities protecting communities. You go in and burn out
areas to protect communities. I'm very concerned, and I think
(22:16):
the Fosal Services concerned is that the amount of damage
Helen left will make it difficult protect those communities. The
only way we're going to protect those communities by air operations.
That's contracting and or looking at our legislators or the
governor providing funding to provide air support when this takes place.
(22:37):
Now it seems that it's just a wish list asked,
but it is. We was proven dearing Helene. The air
operation is the only way we were able to do business.
So we're having to think outside the box and educate
our legislature, legislature and the governor the importance of putting
preparedness money toward how we're going to operate. And they're
(23:01):
going to have to listen to the Foster Service. They're
gonna have to listen to professionals like me that's been
there and provided the protection.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Last bet here with Brian Taylor, the North Kina State
Fire Marshal. So, is there anything and I in most
interviews this way, is there anything that you'd like to
say or talk about that I haven't asked you about,
or anything that you'd like to say to the listeners
or anyone who's listening, is there any particular thing that
you'd like to say.
Speaker 7 (23:25):
I'm just very grateful for the private nonprofits that have
stepped up and provided the assistance, you know. And I
go back to the operation. Heilo is sitting at Hickory
Airport and we had a what we call a firebase
camp at the community college there in Hickory. But the
amount of people that drove up to the Hickory Airport
to just give twenty dollars bill towards the fuel. I
(23:46):
can tell you the fuel bill at one time was
eight hundred thousand dollars of the fuel that was operating
those aircraft. And I know some Aridans purse paid a
lot of that bill overall. But I can tell you
that the individual from Texas I flew, he says, if
they would not have had that funding, I would have
paid it myself.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
And that was just it was really.
Speaker 7 (24:07):
Eye opening to see the outporting of support of private citizens,
private companies, and of course nonprofits that done so much
work good work during that response. And like I said,
we're going to need to embrace that and incorporate them
into a response from FEMA, from the federal government to
(24:29):
the state government, to local government, We're going to have
to change the way we do business to be effective
during emergencies.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
North Kinda State Fire Marshal, Brian Taylor, I really do
appreciate your time today, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Thank you, sir, appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
So really thanks again to Brian Taylor, the North Carolina
State Fire Marshal, for taking the time to sit down
and talk with me.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
And I look forward to continuing.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
This relationship as we go for the He's a very
important man in the state of North Carolina. All Right,
when we return, I got one more interview that I
want to share with you, and it's going to be
a really, really.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Good one and about Hurricane Heleen.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
And it's one of the main people that helped me
out last year that lives up there in the Broad
River area.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
So that's coming up next.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
But right now, let's bring on over to the WBT
Traffic Center with Pam Warner. Welcome back to Breaking with
Brad Jensen on this Wednesday night. Okay, Joining me now
is Andy Criestman. Andy Kreesman lives up in the Broad
River area halfway between bat Cave and Black Mountain, and
he helped me out a lot last year. Been he
was like my boots on the ground, my ears to
(25:30):
the ground, like he was my eyes. He was everything
for me last year, hooking me up and with that
big town hall that we had with like forty fifty
people showing up. And so Andy is joining me now.
And Andy, first of all, thanks for joining me. And
second of all, you know, I really wanted to talk
to you about what it's like up there one year later.
You're on your anniversary this past weekend, so I didn't
(25:50):
get a chance to see you, So just talk about
this right now, like where we are one year after
the fact.
Speaker 8 (25:57):
Oh well, there's still just a lot of questions, I
suppose concerning the priorities, you know, as far as trying
to get over the storm. It seems like for me,
the big priority that I've seen is the streams and
(26:21):
river clean up. They've brought in crews from all over
the country with these big knuckle boom trucks. They've gotten
every stick and twig and tree and stump and limb
out of our creeks and rivers here, which causes a
whole another concern for many of us and that you know,
(26:44):
that's not how our rivers have been over the years.
Now they're like beaches in places. I mean when I
say they've cleaned it, I mean they took everything away
but the rocks and the water. It's just been really
something to see. And it seems as if we put
more emphasis on getting that done and we have our
(27:08):
basic infrastructure. Our roads are still in bad shape. Summer,
you'll get worse by the day. On our road between
where I live in the town of Black Mountain, we
still have four areas that have tipperary stop lots and
we're still single laning. And they've made progress, but it's
(27:30):
been painfully slow. And the folks down in the bat
Cave area they are still they're still just devastated. It's
still just one little lane trail down at the end
of number nine and a few stores of open back
up down in Chimney Rock. But it's just seemed to
(27:51):
be really slow. Lake Lewer is still in just terrible conditions.
They're still dredging and getting the sea and all the
debris that washed into the lake. They're still still working
on that seven days a week. I don't know, it's
it's it's been been something to see, mostly I guess
(28:16):
inconveniences for us at this point. But over in around
Black Mountain, Swanola, where we have so much devastation, there's
still a lot of people that don't have homes.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
You know, Andy, you know, a few weeks after the
hurricane went through and you helped him put together that
town hall, and about forty fifty people shut up, including
that ninety year old woman who walked, you know, like
a third of a mile to be part of it,
and it was very cold that night. What about the
people that were there that night, Like, are they still around?
Do they still lived there? Did some pick up and move?
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Like?
Speaker 1 (28:48):
How many people are still there?
Speaker 8 (28:52):
They all stayed. All the folks, with the exception of
one family that I'm recalling, All those folks are what
we'll say, are native to that area. They were born
and raised and raised their families and buried their families
and lived their whole lives right there. So they're not
(29:12):
going anywhere. So our friend who's at home there where
we met, you know, they lost their home. They are
in the process of beginning to rebuild now in a
different spot, but still in the community. There's no way
they were going to build back on that river side.
But everyone has pretty much moved along and back to
(29:38):
back to life. I mean, just sorting to adapt with
like I say, inconvenience as we have now. But all
those folks that we're there are doing well and back
to living life.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Speaking of Andy Kristman up in the Broad River area,
who was very instrumental in helping me out last year
going up there and doing a lot of reporting. So, Andy,
is there anything that you want the listeners to know,
you know, going west towards Shelby or going east you
know into Monroe or you know Concord Rock Hill. Is
there anything that you want anyone to know that's listening
to us right now?
Speaker 8 (30:16):
Well, I would tell them this. I tell them that
the Black Mountain area, Ashy area, they're pretty much open
for business now, you know, they depend on the tourism.
The Builtmore section of Ashville. There's not much business, not
retail business that's open anymore. They're still boarded up, still
(30:38):
work and still repairing. Black Mountain is pretty much one
hundred percent normal. So when it comes to that part
of it, I would tell them that, you know, they're
open for business, and would appreciate the business, but stay
in town because when you venture out of town and
(31:03):
you start down Highway nine, it's still got some pretty
rough sections, still a lot of work going on. When
you get on the back roads, you still see a
lot of damage. There's a lot of bridges that were
you know, two lane bridges that have been replaced with
just temporary one lane bridges and things like that. So
(31:26):
if if folks are coming to visit, stay in town.
I don't mean to be blunt about it, but that
would be my advice.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Again, Anti Creaseman, I really do appreciate you taking the
time to talk to me and also helping me out
a whole lot last year, because none of that would
have been possible without your help.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
So again, thank you for joining us tonight.
Speaker 8 (31:46):
Oh yes, sir, And I mean I really appreciate you,
not forgetting about us. You know, we are still up here,
are still people hurting, still needing help. There are still
people living in campers and temporary facilities, and I'm still
counting on you know, food banks, and still people who
(32:09):
are are helping and bring in supplies. And from what
I understand, when you go north of here up into
the art Mitchell County around Barnesville, all those areas up
in there around Spruce Time, they still have a lot
of destruction. I've not been up there. I'm not a
(32:31):
guy just to ride around and look at everybody's hardship.
But you know, some people that is their job and
it's not mine that I do here. They still have
some really really tough conditions up in there, so just
don't forget about us. And I appreciate you touching basement.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
There you have at my interview with Andy Creastman, and
again just a super super nice guy and I owe
a lot to him. I also want to thank North
Kulina State Fire Marshall Brian Taylor joining me earlier and
doing a one on one interview with me. Look forward
to doing this all over again tomorrow. The TJ Whichie
Show is coming up next. My name is Brett
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Jensen, and you have been listening to Breaking with Brett Jensen.
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