July 11, 2025 • 17 mins
Fire Chief Steve Freeman's voice carries the weight of both trauma and triumph as he recounts the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene on Bat Cave, North Carolina. Nine months after the catastrophic flooding that destroyed homes, roads, and lives, his community continues the long process of rebuilding.
"We've made a lot of progress," Freeman shares, "but the biggest challenge is still the infrastructure." Unlike nearby areas, Bat Cave's narrow geography prevented temporary roadways from being built, leaving residents dependent on precarious one-lane access routes without guardrails. This isolation defined their experience during and after the storm.
When emergency management warned that Helene would rival the historic 1916 flood—a disaster Freeman had heard about from his grandparents throughout his life—the all-volunteer fire department took extraordinary measures. They went door-to-door asking residents to write their names and emergency contacts on their arms with black Sharpies. "Nobody did that," Freeman explains, "but I think it helped in the fact that when the river started getting up and the flooding started in, that was in their mind." This sobering approach likely contributed to the relatively low casualty rate.
Freeman's own survival story stands as a testament to faith and purpose. Pinned against a backhoe by debris from a landslide that destroyed his garage, he describes his escape as divine intervention: "God pushed that back just enough so I could get my head out." Within minutes, he was back on duty, working with fellow volunteers to establish evacuation routes and coordinate helicopter rescues that eventually airlifted 80-85% of Bat Cave's residents to safety.
The recovery continues with help from organizations like Spokes of Hope, who have brought in Amish volunteers committed to rebuilding efforts for the next 18 months. As Freeman reflects on a captain's words spoken amid the destruction—"For those that believe, when God takes one thing away he gives back twice as much"—his unwavering faith illuminates the resilience that has carried Bat Cave through its darkest hours. Want to support their ongoing recovery? Contact Chief Freeman directly at 828-776-1345 or connect with Spokes of Hope to volunteer your time and resources. Learn more about Steve's story here: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/fire-chief-reflects-on-gods-work-in-his-community-after-helene/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The George Real Estate Group radio broadcast is
celebrating 10 years on WHKP.
The George Real Estate Group iscelebrating 10 years on the
radio, live every Thursdaymorning at 10.05 on WHKP 107.7
FM and AM 1450 and streamingonline at WHkpcom.
(00:24):
Each Friday morning at 845,.
The George Real Estate Grouppresents the Hometown Hero Award
to someone in our community whogoes above and beyond to make
our hometown a better place tolive.
Here's this week's HometownHero Show.
It's 845 and time now for ourGeorge Real Estate Group
Hometown Hero Show.
(00:44):
It's 845 and time now for ourGeorge Real Estate Group
Hometown Hero Series.
Friday mornings always bringabout our George Real Estate
Group's Hometown Hero Series andit always brings Noah into the
studios and I'm glad.
Happy Friday, sir, happy Friday.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Happy Friday, there we go, good morning and just so
thankful and grateful to be heresponsoring the Hometown Heroes
series.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
How's the summer going for the George Real Estate
Group?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
We are so grateful.
Not only are we, but also thecounty.
We've helped more people thisyear than the year before, but
that's also the market's doingthat well, if you can believe it
.
There's been more homes soldthis year, year to date, than
last year.
Prices have come down a littlebit.
The market's softening in thesense that days on market takes
(01:31):
a little bit longer to sell yourhome, so the buyers have a
little bit more options becausethere's more inventory.
But the market's still veryhealthy.
Be careful when you listen tothe news.
The sky is not falling, uh, themarket's still moving and we're
so grateful.
We've had the privilege to helpuh in my career, over 1500
families, quickly approaching1600 families uh, with their
(01:52):
real estate needs.
We have incredible group ofagents.
We have incredible staff.
We're we're located in flatrock.
We serve all of western northcarolina and upstate south
carolina, but we're so grateful.
This is my 20th year with mybroker's license and my joke is,
you know I'm an overnightsuccess.
That took 20 years of showingup every day.
But grateful to serve thecommunity and it's an honor and
(02:13):
privilege to sponsor theHometown Heroes series.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
And I always have to know is there an open house
scheduled over the weekend?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Actually at the moment, no, have we've had,
because we had a number of homesgo under contract that we had,
uh, on the market in those openhouses.
We've had a few pricereductions.
We also have a lot of newinventory hitting the market.
You can go to our website,realestatebygregcom.
You can also follow us onsocial media.
We also podcast all of ourradio shows.
(02:42):
We can see all of our inventory.
But I mean mean the averageprice in Henderson County is in
the 530s.
We're averaging 126 singlefamily homes a month selling.
About a third of the homes soldin Henderson County are
purchased with cash.
I mean, so it's a very you knowit's not what it was a couple
years ago, but the market isabsolutely holding.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Okay, great to know.
Great to know.
Well, noah, join me inwelcoming steve freeman, who's
the chief of the bat cave firedepartment.
Steve, good morning uh, goodmorning.
Thanks for having me well,thank you for coming up.
We are uh so excited to get totalk with you about, uh, bat
cave and it's a recovery fromhurricane helene.
Uh, you were right there on thefront lines of the whole thing.
(03:25):
You were actually in the stormyourself, and so, looking back
after nine and a half months orso, how are you feeling?
Speaker 3 (03:38):
It's getting better every day.
It's been a long process, butwe've made a lot of progress
over the past nine months.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, the biggest being getting the infrastructure
back.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Yeah, the roads seem to be the biggest problem and
DOT has done a phenomenal jobcoming in.
It's just Batcave.
It's so tight down in there wedon't have the real estate to
actually build another road likethey did down toward Chimney
Rock in the riverbed, so we'vegot one-lane roads coming in
(04:12):
from Highway 9, 64, and 74.
And we still don't haveguardrails up and stuff.
It's still pretty dangerousdown that way and that's the
reason we limit access to Iunderstand to just the locals
incredible.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Uh, you, um and you.
How long have you been the firechief?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I've been the fire chief for the, probably the last
three to four years, but I'vebeen with the, with the
department, for over 35 wow, oh,incredible.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And are you originally from Bat Cave?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Yes, I'm resident down there full-time.
I actually was born over inAsheville and lived in Black
Mountain for a little while, butmy grandparents were down there
so I was down there the wholetime and then I moved down there
back in probably 1990 fromBlack Mountain, but I was down
(05:04):
there every week, multiplegenerations, yeah, and I live in
my grandparents' house downthere.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
That's incredible.
You mentioned and I've seensome stories, but you mentioned
that growing up you had heardyour grandparents and family
members talk about the previousbig flood.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yes, talk about the previous big flood.
Yes, uh, my whole life, youknow, uh, I'd hear my
grandparents and my my dadtalking about the 1916 flood
that actually wiped out bat caveway back.
And uh, when, uh, they weredoing the the weather reports
and and our briefings throughthe emergency management with
(05:45):
Jimmy Brissy and them, they cameback a couple of days before
and said that it was going to beas bad as the 1916 flood.
And after me hearing that mywhole life, we got together,
batcave and Gert, and we wereall down there doing the
debriefs Batcave and Gert, andwe were all down there doing the
debriefs.
And after that report came in Ihad, we got together and decided
(06:12):
we'd send everybody out and wewould try to get people to
evacuate you're going door todoor going door to door and I
had them take a pad and paperand of course you couldn't make
anybody evacuate, it was allvoluntary but we asked them to
(06:33):
at least write down their namenext to Ken, and all that on the
paper.
And after they said it was goingto be catastrophic, I went one
step further.
I told my people to I give themeach a black Sharpie and I told
them if they, after askingthose questions and writing it
down, just pull it out and askthem to write their name and
(06:55):
next to Ken on their arm.
Nobody did that, but I think ithelped in the fact that when
the river started getting up andall that the flooding started
in, that was in their mind andthey knew, and I think that's
why we didn't have no, no moreloss of life than what we did
right, this is, I mean just that, that perspective that you gave
(07:17):
them when you were asking themto do that.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I mean it puts them.
It puts it in their mind thatit is a dire situation,
especially when the water comesup and stuff like that.
We only had two fatalities inthe gorge, and I'm just talking
henderson county, I can't speakfor rutherford county and
chimney rock, but we we had twofatalities.
One was actually a gentleman upon top of schumann, pretty high
(07:43):
up on the mountain.
We had a slide come down and itstarted and it came between his
house and he went out to gethis tractor and got enveloped.
When the rest of the mountaincome down, he was the first
fatality and then the second onewas on Edney Inn Road and the
lady survived the first one.
It was much like my house.
(08:03):
She had a slide come into theback of hers and it just
partially hit it at that pointand she spent the next night
there and the next night therest of the mountain came down,
it collapsed, the house andkilled her but we were blessed
not to have any drownings in theriver and stuff in our district
and girton district I mean,this is how real this was you.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
You personally could have been one of the fatalities.
I mean your own experience.
Like you, you said god savedyour life yes, uh, uh.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
What we were doing was joyce and I were standing on
the porch just filming the thedriveway washing away and the
house shook and I thought it wasa tree coming down on the back
of the house.
So I went through the house tothe back door to go check on
that and about the time I got tothe back door I had I've got an
old 67 Mustang that I had puton high ground up above the
(08:58):
house and as I went to open theback door and look out, it
parked right in front of thehouse right there and I just
that was just unbelievable itwas hard disorienting and
disorienting.
But when I saw that, I heardwhat sounded like a freight
train and I went on out the doorand went around past an old
(09:20):
smokehouse that I've got sittingthere and I had a pole garage
there and I got around to it andI looked back up just in time
to see my Ford Ranger flip overon its side, coming down toward
me.
So I started running backtoward the house and I had an
old backhoe that didn't runsitting there and the truck hit
(09:41):
the garage and pushed it overand it pinned me against the
backhoe of my head, against thebackhoe with the six-by-six pole
that was holding it up and Icouldn't get out.
But God pushed that back justenough so I could get my head
out and fall through the backhoeand yell at Joyce.
(10:04):
She saw all this happening andshe just knew I was dead.
But when I came out the otherside I yelled for her to go get
in the truck and I pulled in infront of the house because I
figured the whole mountain wascoming down at that time and I
figured our best chance was toget in the truck and maybe we
could just roll down throughthere.
But we sat there for about fiveminutes and about that time it
(10:29):
was all over.
The eye came over, there wasclear sky for a little while and
we sat there and that's kind ofwhat the video was about.
They actually took footage ofwhat I was filming all that time
and Samaritan's Purse came downand did that and it's just a
testimony of what God does.
(10:49):
That's not about me.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
That's all, god, absolutely, and your faith how
it's carried you through allthis.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Yeah, and at that point I realized, you know, god
had saved me for a reason.
And once we got our facultiestogether, I went down.
I couldn't go up the mountainbecause there were slides all
around, so I went down and I metJackie Morgan down at the foot
of Possum Hollow.
He's a captain.
I met him and we looked bothways and we couldn't go down the
(11:23):
road because 74 was washed out.
So I couldn't get to thestation and we knew there was a
lot of people up above us towardMiddle Fork.
So Jackie and I got on hisfour-wheeler with a chainsaw and
everything and started upcutting the road and going past
where the road was washed outand stuff like that.
To get up there and make surenobody else was hurt.
(11:44):
To get up there and make surenobody else was hurt.
And the thing that really getsme is the first thing Jackie
said to me was when I met himdown there and I mean
destruction was just everywhere.
But he said you know, stevesaid for those that believe,
when God takes one thing away hegives back twice as much, twice
(12:07):
as better.
Wow, and that has rang truethrough this whole process over
the past nine months.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And God has showed up through incredible ways.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Over and over.
I could spend all day justtelling things that has happened
and all that.
But he's right.
I mean it gets so much betterand so much more and and the
more, the more we gave out, themore comes in and the help with
all the churches and everybodyelse that's really got us
(12:39):
through all this.
Uh, countywide and all theresidents in the county,
everybody came down therebecause we were just You're
ground zero.
Yeah, we're ground zero and wecouldn't get out.
We spent the next two or threedays.
Well, the first day after wemade sure everybody was all
right and we're all volunteers.
(12:59):
So I had, uh, firemen allspread out through my district
down low so we ended up withfive different zones because you
could only get about a milearound and we got to talking to
each other on radio because,9-1-1, everything had went down.
So we were pretty much isolated, just like the rest of the
(13:19):
county at that point, eventhough we didn't know that,
isolated, just like the rest ofthe county at that point, even
though we didn't know that.
But what we ended up doing isthe first day we would just dig
out enough trails and weborrowed ATVs, utvs to get the
sick and the elderly down tothese landing zones and the
helicopters would come in andafter about three or four days
(13:41):
days, we had 80 to 85 percent ofthe population of bat cave
flown out of there.
There was really nobody leftbut the, the firemen and their
families.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Incredible you said you're the only fully volunteer
fire department in the county.
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
that's right, we're all 100 volunteer steve.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Uh, we're about to run out of time.
I wish we could talk further.
Uh, you guys still need helpand uh give us a contact uh for
if someone would like tovolunteer or to offer assistance
uh, they can actually call mynumber.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Uh, as fire chief down there, it's's 828-776-1345.
Or, spokes of Hope has moved upfrom Chimney Rock into Bat Cave
.
Okay, and we're going to letthem start taking over
coordinating, because they'regoing to be here, for they're
(14:43):
bringing the Amish in.
They'll be here for the nextyear and a half commitment.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And we're going to be talking with someone from the
Spokes of Hope.
I've been hearing that namearound a whole lot.
Like I said, Steve, I'd love totalk further but we've got to
run.
Thank you, thank you, thank youfor all you've done and all
you've been through and continueto go through.
We just wanted to get you hereand say thank you, that's it.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Thank you for having us and keep us in your prayers.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Noah's got a certificate for you and we
invite you to join us again nextweek at 845 for the George Real
Estate Group Hometown Hero Show.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Absolutely Again.
We're here every Friday morningand thank you again, steve.
So much for everything you'vedone Thinking about estate
planning for your real estate.
Without a smart approach, theproperty you leave behind could
become an unwelcome burden foryour kids.
Many children simply don't wantto co-manage an inherited house
or deal with the tenants.
Fortunately, you can preventthat with the right plan.
(15:46):
The George Real Estate Groupspecializes in tax-efficient
strategies like 1031 exchangesand Delaware Statutory Trust to
simplify inheritance and incomeplanning.
A 1031 exchange can defer yourcapital gain taxes now and help
your kids avoid a big tax billlater, and a DST lets you
continue earning rental incomewithout landlord headache.
(16:08):
Plus, it can be split amongyour children, making
inheritance easier.
Planning ahead is one of thekindest gifts you can give your
family.
Let us help you secure yourlegacy.
Call the George Real EstateGroup at 828-393-0134 today.
You've worked hard to buildyour legacy.
Now let us help you protect itfor your loved ones.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
The George Real Estate Group is located in Flat
Rock, north Carolina, nearHendersonville in Henderson
County.
You can find them online atrealestatebygregcom.
The George Real Estate Groupcan be reached at 828-393-0134
or stop by their office at 2720Greenville Highway, flat Rock,
(16:50):
north Carolina.
Tune in live each week onThursdays at 10.05 am on WHKP
107.7 FM and 14.50 am AM, orstream online at whkpcom or
download these podcasts whereveryou get your podcasts.
The George Real Estate Groupbrings you the WHKP Hometown
(17:14):
Hero Series every Friday morningat 845.
The George Real Estate Group radio broadcast is
celebrating 10 years on WHKP.
The George Real Estate Group iscelebrating 10 years on the
radio, live every Thursdaymorning at 10.05 on WHKP 107.7
FM and AM 1450 and streamingonline at WHkpcom.
(00:24):
Each Friday morning at 845,.
The George Real Estate Grouppresents the Hometown Hero Award
to someone in our community whogoes above and beyond to make
our hometown a better place tolive.
Here's this week's HometownHero Show.
It's 845 and time now for ourGeorge Real Estate Group
Hometown Hero Show.
(00:44):
It's 845 and time now for ourGeorge Real Estate Group
Hometown Hero Series.
Friday mornings always bringabout our George Real Estate
Group's Hometown Hero Series andit always brings Noah into the
studios and I'm glad.
Happy Friday, sir, happy Friday.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Happy Friday, there we go, good morning and just so
thankful and grateful to be heresponsoring the Hometown Heroes
series.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
How's the summer going for the George Real Estate
Group?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
We are so grateful.
Not only are we, but also thecounty.
We've helped more people thisyear than the year before, but
that's also the market's doingthat well, if you can believe it
.
There's been more homes soldthis year, year to date, than
last year.
Prices have come down a littlebit.
The market's softening in thesense that days on market takes
(01:31):
a little bit longer to sell yourhome, so the buyers have a
little bit more options becausethere's more inventory.
But the market's still veryhealthy.
Be careful when you listen tothe news.
The sky is not falling, uh, themarket's still moving and we're
so grateful.
We've had the privilege to helpuh in my career, over 1500
families, quickly approaching1600 families uh, with their
(01:52):
real estate needs.
We have incredible group ofagents.
We have incredible staff.
We're we're located in flatrock.
We serve all of western northcarolina and upstate south
carolina, but we're so grateful.
This is my 20th year with mybroker's license and my joke is,
you know I'm an overnightsuccess.
That took 20 years of showingup every day.
But grateful to serve thecommunity and it's an honor and
(02:13):
privilege to sponsor theHometown Heroes series.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
And I always have to know is there an open house
scheduled over the weekend?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Actually at the moment, no, have we've had,
because we had a number of homesgo under contract that we had,
uh, on the market in those openhouses.
We've had a few pricereductions.
We also have a lot of newinventory hitting the market.
You can go to our website,realestatebygregcom.
You can also follow us onsocial media.
We also podcast all of ourradio shows.
(02:42):
We can see all of our inventory.
But I mean mean the averageprice in Henderson County is in
the 530s.
We're averaging 126 singlefamily homes a month selling.
About a third of the homes soldin Henderson County are
purchased with cash.
I mean, so it's a very you knowit's not what it was a couple
years ago, but the market isabsolutely holding.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Okay, great to know.
Great to know.
Well, noah, join me inwelcoming steve freeman, who's
the chief of the bat cave firedepartment.
Steve, good morning uh, goodmorning.
Thanks for having me well,thank you for coming up.
We are uh so excited to get totalk with you about, uh, bat
cave and it's a recovery fromhurricane helene.
Uh, you were right there on thefront lines of the whole thing.
(03:25):
You were actually in the stormyourself, and so, looking back
after nine and a half months orso, how are you feeling?
Speaker 3 (03:38):
It's getting better every day.
It's been a long process, butwe've made a lot of progress
over the past nine months.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, the biggest being getting the infrastructure
back.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Yeah, the roads seem to be the biggest problem and
DOT has done a phenomenal jobcoming in.
It's just Batcave.
It's so tight down in there wedon't have the real estate to
actually build another road likethey did down toward Chimney
Rock in the riverbed, so we'vegot one-lane roads coming in
(04:12):
from Highway 9, 64, and 74.
And we still don't haveguardrails up and stuff.
It's still pretty dangerousdown that way and that's the
reason we limit access to Iunderstand to just the locals
incredible.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Uh, you, um and you.
How long have you been the firechief?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I've been the fire chief for the, probably the last
three to four years, but I'vebeen with the, with the
department, for over 35 wow, oh,incredible.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And are you originally from Bat Cave?
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Yes, I'm resident down there full-time.
I actually was born over inAsheville and lived in Black
Mountain for a little while, butmy grandparents were down there
so I was down there the wholetime and then I moved down there
back in probably 1990 fromBlack Mountain, but I was down
(05:04):
there every week, multiplegenerations, yeah, and I live in
my grandparents' house downthere.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
That's incredible.
You mentioned and I've seensome stories, but you mentioned
that growing up you had heardyour grandparents and family
members talk about the previousbig flood.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yes, talk about the previous big flood.
Yes, uh, my whole life, youknow, uh, I'd hear my
grandparents and my my dadtalking about the 1916 flood
that actually wiped out bat caveway back.
And uh, when, uh, they weredoing the the weather reports
and and our briefings throughthe emergency management with
(05:45):
Jimmy Brissy and them, they cameback a couple of days before
and said that it was going to beas bad as the 1916 flood.
And after me hearing that mywhole life, we got together,
batcave and Gert, and we wereall down there doing the
debriefs Batcave and Gert, andwe were all down there doing the
debriefs.
And after that report came in Ihad, we got together and decided
(06:12):
we'd send everybody out and wewould try to get people to
evacuate you're going door todoor going door to door and I
had them take a pad and paperand of course you couldn't make
anybody evacuate, it was allvoluntary but we asked them to
(06:33):
at least write down their namenext to Ken, and all that on the
paper.
And after they said it was goingto be catastrophic, I went one
step further.
I told my people to I give themeach a black Sharpie and I told
them if they, after askingthose questions and writing it
down, just pull it out and askthem to write their name and
(06:55):
next to Ken on their arm.
Nobody did that, but I think ithelped in the fact that when
the river started getting up andall that the flooding started
in, that was in their mind andthey knew, and I think that's
why we didn't have no, no moreloss of life than what we did
right, this is, I mean just that, that perspective that you gave
(07:17):
them when you were asking themto do that.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I mean it puts them.
It puts it in their mind thatit is a dire situation,
especially when the water comesup and stuff like that.
We only had two fatalities inthe gorge, and I'm just talking
henderson county, I can't speakfor rutherford county and
chimney rock, but we we had twofatalities.
One was actually a gentleman upon top of schumann, pretty high
(07:43):
up on the mountain.
We had a slide come down and itstarted and it came between his
house and he went out to gethis tractor and got enveloped.
When the rest of the mountaincome down, he was the first
fatality and then the second onewas on Edney Inn Road and the
lady survived the first one.
It was much like my house.
(08:03):
She had a slide come into theback of hers and it just
partially hit it at that pointand she spent the next night
there and the next night therest of the mountain came down,
it collapsed, the house andkilled her but we were blessed
not to have any drownings in theriver and stuff in our district
and girton district I mean,this is how real this was you.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
You personally could have been one of the fatalities.
I mean your own experience.
Like you, you said god savedyour life yes, uh, uh.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
What we were doing was joyce and I were standing on
the porch just filming the thedriveway washing away and the
house shook and I thought it wasa tree coming down on the back
of the house.
So I went through the house tothe back door to go check on
that and about the time I got tothe back door I had I've got an
old 67 Mustang that I had puton high ground up above the
(08:58):
house and as I went to open theback door and look out, it
parked right in front of thehouse right there and I just
that was just unbelievable itwas hard disorienting and
disorienting.
But when I saw that, I heardwhat sounded like a freight
train and I went on out the doorand went around past an old
(09:20):
smokehouse that I've got sittingthere and I had a pole garage
there and I got around to it andI looked back up just in time
to see my Ford Ranger flip overon its side, coming down toward
me.
So I started running backtoward the house and I had an
old backhoe that didn't runsitting there and the truck hit
(09:41):
the garage and pushed it overand it pinned me against the
backhoe of my head, against thebackhoe with the six-by-six pole
that was holding it up and Icouldn't get out.
But God pushed that back justenough so I could get my head
out and fall through the backhoeand yell at Joyce.
(10:04):
She saw all this happening andshe just knew I was dead.
But when I came out the otherside I yelled for her to go get
in the truck and I pulled in infront of the house because I
figured the whole mountain wascoming down at that time and I
figured our best chance was toget in the truck and maybe we
could just roll down throughthere.
But we sat there for about fiveminutes and about that time it
(10:29):
was all over.
The eye came over, there wasclear sky for a little while and
we sat there and that's kind ofwhat the video was about.
They actually took footage ofwhat I was filming all that time
and Samaritan's Purse came downand did that and it's just a
testimony of what God does.
(10:49):
That's not about me.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
That's all, god, absolutely, and your faith how
it's carried you through allthis.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Yeah, and at that point I realized, you know, god
had saved me for a reason.
And once we got our facultiestogether, I went down.
I couldn't go up the mountainbecause there were slides all
around, so I went down and I metJackie Morgan down at the foot
of Possum Hollow.
He's a captain.
I met him and we looked bothways and we couldn't go down the
(11:23):
road because 74 was washed out.
So I couldn't get to thestation and we knew there was a
lot of people up above us towardMiddle Fork.
So Jackie and I got on hisfour-wheeler with a chainsaw and
everything and started upcutting the road and going past
where the road was washed outand stuff like that.
To get up there and make surenobody else was hurt.
(11:44):
To get up there and make surenobody else was hurt.
And the thing that really getsme is the first thing Jackie
said to me was when I met himdown there and I mean
destruction was just everywhere.
But he said you know, stevesaid for those that believe,
when God takes one thing away hegives back twice as much, twice
(12:07):
as better.
Wow, and that has rang truethrough this whole process over
the past nine months.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
And God has showed up through incredible ways.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Over and over.
I could spend all day justtelling things that has happened
and all that.
But he's right.
I mean it gets so much betterand so much more and and the
more, the more we gave out, themore comes in and the help with
all the churches and everybodyelse that's really got us
(12:39):
through all this.
Uh, countywide and all theresidents in the county,
everybody came down therebecause we were just You're
ground zero.
Yeah, we're ground zero and wecouldn't get out.
We spent the next two or threedays.
Well, the first day after wemade sure everybody was all
right and we're all volunteers.
(12:59):
So I had, uh, firemen allspread out through my district
down low so we ended up withfive different zones because you
could only get about a milearound and we got to talking to
each other on radio because,9-1-1, everything had went down.
So we were pretty much isolated, just like the rest of the
(13:19):
county at that point, eventhough we didn't know that,
isolated, just like the rest ofthe county at that point, even
though we didn't know that.
But what we ended up doing isthe first day we would just dig
out enough trails and weborrowed ATVs, utvs to get the
sick and the elderly down tothese landing zones and the
helicopters would come in andafter about three or four days
(13:41):
days, we had 80 to 85 percent ofthe population of bat cave
flown out of there.
There was really nobody leftbut the, the firemen and their
families.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Incredible you said you're the only fully volunteer
fire department in the county.
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
that's right, we're all 100 volunteer steve.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Uh, we're about to run out of time.
I wish we could talk further.
Uh, you guys still need helpand uh give us a contact uh for
if someone would like tovolunteer or to offer assistance
uh, they can actually call mynumber.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Uh, as fire chief down there, it's's 828-776-1345.
Or, spokes of Hope has moved upfrom Chimney Rock into Bat Cave
.
Okay, and we're going to letthem start taking over
coordinating, because they'regoing to be here, for they're
(14:43):
bringing the Amish in.
They'll be here for the nextyear and a half commitment.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And we're going to be talking with someone from the
Spokes of Hope.
I've been hearing that namearound a whole lot.
Like I said, Steve, I'd love totalk further but we've got to
run.
Thank you, thank you, thank youfor all you've done and all
you've been through and continueto go through.
We just wanted to get you hereand say thank you, that's it.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Thank you for having us and keep us in your prayers.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Noah's got a certificate for you and we
invite you to join us again nextweek at 845 for the George Real
Estate Group Hometown Hero Show.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Absolutely Again.
We're here every Friday morningand thank you again, steve.
So much for everything you'vedone Thinking about estate
planning for your real estate.
Without a smart approach, theproperty you leave behind could
become an unwelcome burden foryour kids.
Many children simply don't wantto co-manage an inherited house
or deal with the tenants.
Fortunately, you can preventthat with the right plan.
(15:46):
The George Real Estate Groupspecializes in tax-efficient
strategies like 1031 exchangesand Delaware Statutory Trust to
simplify inheritance and incomeplanning.
A 1031 exchange can defer yourcapital gain taxes now and help
your kids avoid a big tax billlater, and a DST lets you
continue earning rental incomewithout landlord headache.
(16:08):
Plus, it can be split amongyour children, making
inheritance easier.
Planning ahead is one of thekindest gifts you can give your
family.
Let us help you secure yourlegacy.
Call the George Real EstateGroup at 828-393-0134 today.
You've worked hard to buildyour legacy.
Now let us help you protect itfor your loved ones.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
The George Real Estate Group is located in Flat
Rock, north Carolina, nearHendersonville in Henderson
County.
You can find them online atrealestatebygregcom.
The George Real Estate Groupcan be reached at 828-393-0134
or stop by their office at 2720Greenville Highway, flat Rock,
(16:50):
north Carolina.
Tune in live each week onThursdays at 10.05 am on WHKP
107.7 FM and 14.50 am AM, orstream online at whkpcom or
download these podcasts whereveryou get your podcasts.
The George Real Estate Groupbrings you the WHKP Hometown
(17:14):
Hero Series every Friday morningat 845.
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