October 21, 2025 • 44 mins
One year ago, Hurricane Helene tore through Western North Carolina. But the storm didn’t take our spirit. Now, Eddie and Amanda Foxx bring you the voices of neighbors, families and businesses who endured…and rebuilt.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
One year after Helene, the voices of Western North Carolina
share their stories. This is Stories After the Storm with
Eddie Fox and Amanda Fox.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Episode two The Aftermath. In episode one, we look back
at the night Helene hit, the fear, the chaos, the
moments that changed everything for Western North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Now we're going to talk about what came after. When
the rain stopped, but the heartbreak didn't.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
The hours and the days that followed were filled with
silence and sirens, roades, washed away, homes gone, folks searching
for their loved ones.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
But in that same silence, something else started to grow. Kindness, courage,
neighbors helping neighbors.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
In this episode, you'll hear calls from families and businesses
who lost everything, And our guest are a couple of
real American heroes who put this community before anything.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Else, Because in those first days after Helene, the real
story wasn't just the damage, it was the people who
refused to give up.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
This this is episode two, The Aftermath.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Down on Riverside Drive where Southern States is and the
auto O'Reilly's auto parts. I have never I've lived here
all my life, born and raised right over in the
biltmore square area. I've never seen the river get out
like it has now, and it's over over, it's over
(01:30):
O'Reilly's Auto Parts. You can't see it tank. Oh my god,
you can't see it down there. It's unbelievable down there
on Riverside Drive, all the bars down there. I know
they were going to close down eventually, but this took
care of it, because I mean, it's washed way down.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
There at the shell over here on Bard Road across
from Taco Bell about thirty minutes ago, it looks like
somebody was shot over in altercation in the gas. So yeah,
that's just getting taken care of. There's still some cops
that and doing who's already left.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Our first guest is Captain Brandon Moore from the Asheville
Police Department. So take us back to the hours after
the storm and how how it affected you and your
family on a personal level.
Speaker 6 (02:17):
So mine's a much different story than most because I
wasn't here when the storm.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Hit, which I would I would think is terrifying. It
was with the family that even being out in the floodwaters,
it would because you don't you don't know.
Speaker 6 (02:30):
Yeah, I don't think I knew how bad then and
we've talked about kind of what occurred to getting home,
but you know, being in California knowing it's coming, and
then being told how bad it is directly from you know,
the assistant fire chief that you know that intels solid.
(02:51):
It's bad and I can't do anything about it. Thankfully,
by God's grace, only did I have my father in
law at my house with my family, not knowing anything
was coming. But at least I knew someone else was
there because there was no getting through. There was no
We all know what that looked like and how you tried.
So for me, the worst part was being stuck in O'Hare,
(03:14):
not knowing how I was getting home, but I was
coming home, and the only phone call that got answered
was that guy sitting at the desk of the emergency
operations center and he picks up the phone and the chief, yeah,
you can just hear in his voice how bad it is.
And me also, if he's answering the phone at the
(03:34):
emergency operation center, it's real bad because that's not something
he can't do, but not his role, right, and so
something's really a miss and so still nothing coming out.
I think that was the other piece too, is when
you're in here, and we've heard stories from a lot
of people that they thought people knew how bad it was,
(03:54):
but nothing was coming out. Even sitting there at O'Hare,
I knew, okay, the if I if this flight does
take off and I grabbed one to Greenville, I need
to at least eat something because I will not be
able to eat anything again for I don't know how long,
based on what I'll find when I get down there.
So I'm sitting there trying to put something in my
stomach and seeing the news, expecting to see the news.
(04:16):
There's nothing.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
There was no.
Speaker 7 (04:17):
No, That's what I was gonna ask, is what you
saw in the news?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Well it's nothing.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
There was you know, the normal we'll see on each
weather channel that there's this storm and it's made landfall.
But there's nothing like And I think this comes from
my experience in living in Charleston. You expect to see
the you know where the storm just left pretty quickly,
you know, rather fast, you'll start seeing images come out
of how do you recto till that?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Because you know something's going on, but you're not saying
what your mind.
Speaker 6 (04:43):
I think I started steadily dialing numbers, and no numbers answered.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
So it was the point when you're sitting there, had
you talked to your family, did you know at that
point that they were okay or not?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Not yet.
Speaker 6 (04:53):
I hadn't been able to get I hadn't get anybody
on the phone. I did send a text in an
effort because I left out of California at like three
something in the morning to get to the airport, and
then you know, by then still time here. I wasn't
going to call anybody, but knowing it's about to hit,
so yeah, no, that's the only the chief was the
only contact I had, and it wasn't until I landed
(05:15):
in Greenville. I think that I actually was able to
get I think I got a text back from my wife,
but I never got her on the phone. And it
wasn't until I landed in Greenville, and Greenville Airport had
no power, so it was still touch and go from
that location just to get out of there. And so
when I finally got her on the phone from a
family side of things, first, it was you know, very
(05:39):
just blessed to hear that they're okay. Some neighbors around
us sustained some damage, but overall, the neighborhood was good,
Our family was good. They had the basic needs they
needed at that point in time. And then for me,
I'd already gotten another phone call from my best friend
that lives in Charleston that he's on his way, and
so he had already loaded up everything we need it
(06:00):
or thought we needed, and he was coming. So at
some point he's probably going to beat me there or
get there right after I do. So it was good,
you know, from that perspective, knowing, But now I'm focused
on how I get home. And when my wife did
finally get on the phone, it was you don't need
to come. There's no way for you to get home, like, no,
I'm coming home like and she's like, no, I have
(06:22):
looked and there is zero routes we know available right
now that everything's done. And she says, you just you're
not think she said, you're not here. You don't know
that everything's cut off.
Speaker 7 (06:34):
That's that is a dad and a husband and a
police officer. You're like, yeah, no, you.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Got to be there like a spiritual level.
Speaker 6 (06:39):
Well, I mean that's yeah, and I think that's that
is where it goes. You know, only only by God's
grace was the family safe and did I make it back?
And then and then the game of Frogger began on
my route home because I literally, yeah, literally I got
I told this guy. I don't know how much I
said to the guy at the car place, but he's like, sir,
(07:01):
we just don't have a car clean for you. I'm like, sir,
have not gotten better. It ain't gonna stake because where
I'm going, I don't know that you want it back.
It's going to kind of be a days of thunder return.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
We don't have roads.
Speaker 6 (07:13):
It's so and I immediately again I think God provided
that he would have answered the phone told me what
they needed that was drone batteries. We kind of told
that story and that I would be less than ten
miles away from our drone provider, and he opened up
his shop for me just to go take whatever we needed.
So I got the biggest vehicle they had, dirty and all,
(07:35):
and started heading over there to get all of these things.
And then I got her on the phone one last
time after I loaded up, telling her I'm which way
I'm heading home. She's like, I got shut down.
Speaker 8 (07:43):
You're not going to make it.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
Like I'm going to find a way to make it
and then I started up the road and it was
you know, clear, eerily dark, nobody on the road. And
then treat and so it made that trip, you know,
from here to Greenville. Made that trip what should be
forty seven minutes or so, made it three over three hours.
And I got stuck right at exit forty nine. And
(08:05):
that was because of all the water, you know, three
miles up. They wouldn't let anybody cross. So now I'm dead.
And I tried every avenue there was. And now angry wife.
Speaker 7 (08:18):
Because I told you so well.
Speaker 6 (08:20):
She and I don't think I ever thought she was wrong,
because she usually isn't right. But that part didn't matter.
And I think we still kind of go back and
forth about this because this is still a very touchy
point for her that from her perspective, she was home,
her dad was there, and the kids are safe. I'm
the one that's not safe now, and I didn't I
(08:43):
wasn't hearing that right. In retrospect, I get her position.
I probably would have sayen the same thing on the
back end, but I was thinking, get home, get to work.
There's lots to do, and I can't sit down here
in Greenville. But I wasn't I definitely was not looking
through her lens on this, and she was one hundred
(09:03):
percent right. I was the one causing some strife with
being out doing crazy things, just trying to get home,
when at that point we were all in a good place.
Speaker 9 (09:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (09:13):
So from her perspective, very poor decision making, and she
probably wasn't wrong.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
To be fair, though, I think we all were looking
through different lenses.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
It's we're not accustomed to anything that occurred that day
or a couple of days after, and so it's you know,
I think we all just did the best we could.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
It wasn't very I feel like everybody was just it
was in that moment. You were making moment by moment decisions.
You weren't really thinking about the ten minutes, the hour
from then. It was just like, right now, this is
what I'm doing, and then this is where I'm going
to go. Yeah, so I get why you were like,
I need, I need to get home.
Speaker 6 (09:51):
Yeah, And it was I also thought I'd get this
amazing welcome when I walked through the door. Yeah, not
so much, not when I had envisioned in the song.
Speaker 8 (10:13):
It was.
Speaker 6 (10:13):
It was, it was not so lovely, And I get
I get it. Yeah, And I think then what we'll
probably get to here in the next couple of minutes
also speaks to how much they went through with what
we did, and all of the families of all of
the responders that were out there went through a whole
lot of things that they just had to hold it
(10:34):
together while we were doing these.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
That's my question, how how do you do that?
Speaker 6 (10:41):
We don't. We don't do it well. If we're being
really honest, we don't. We don't do it well. I
think we're doing it better, and I'm very happy that
Lamb has been in the position he's been in as
long as he has to kind of push towards better wellness.
We're not there yet, but we are in a much
better place than I think any of us would say
(11:03):
we started. When we did this, it really wasn't something
that you focused on.
Speaker 8 (11:08):
You were just told to.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
Go do the job, and nobody asked later how you were. Now,
you know, we're asking well in the media, and we
were asking what we weren't prepared to respond to it.
And I think now I feel better to say we're
asking regularly and we have outlets. Yeah, so we haven't
(11:29):
made the complete stride, but we're making great attempts at
trying to do better as it came to the storm.
I think, again, there's script out there for how you
respond from both police, fire and MS perspective to these events,
but there's no true guideline for how you engage with
responders because they're all going to be different. Even with
(11:52):
what we each did, there's a different level of what
we engaged saw and had to kind of overcome, and
I think that's really hard to put everybody into this
single box to figure it out. Even from my perspective,
I think to get to where you know, I was
pulled off of my regular duties as the patrol commander
(12:15):
and put over drones because we saw how necessary, and
the chiefs made that decision that hey, this needs to
be a focus, let's do this, and they backfilled my position,
which gave me relief to know that because stuff still
happened in the city, this was a response, but there
was still regular activity occurring within the city, right, and
so we still had And that's the part that's missed
(12:37):
is a lot of people, when they may or may
not have had this specific role in the storm, they
played a vital role in the storm response, because the
city still functioned day after day, good, bad and indifferent.
We still had lots of activities occur, a homicide, multiple fires,
we had multiple issues just regular policing activities, and somebody
(12:59):
had to a address that. And so my new assignment
put me, you know, day in day out right there
alongside of I don't know how many total people. I
wish we could just guess at a number that showed
up to help what we'd be wrong. You'll get a
couple hours sleep, come back in. There was no showering,
so you could skip that step. That's super easy. And
(13:19):
so you know, but yeah, I think I shared with
you too the other before we get into the day
to day and how that toll takes on you is
I didn't expect when I drove home at the end
of each day, whatever time that was, at the end
of a briefing, eight thirty nine o'clock, all the neighbors
have had zero access, you know, any of your family,
(13:41):
Like there's twenty something of people nearly standing at the
driveway because well, I'm the news for the day. Yeah,
and I don't think I realized, you know, I want
to give that to them and it's very clear. I'm
a talker, so you know that's not going to be
something I wouldn't do, but that the you drive through
all of that, and then at some point later that
(14:01):
evening when we're supposed to be going to bed, is
when my wife wants to also, well how are you?
And she's really good about that for me, But there's
so much in there. You're like the news outlet for
all your neighbors who hadn't been able to see what
was going on. How bad is it? We didn't venture out?
You know, my business is here, you know, do we
know what it looks like? And so after I'd say
(14:25):
ten days, I think ten days in, my wife finally said,
you need a day. You don't we need to How
can I get you to not go to work today?
It's not really an option. So none of us are
not going to work, she says, no, I just I
see you and you're not right, and so find a
(14:46):
way or I'll make a call, which she would have.
And so I think we realized that was around the
time I think all of us were trying to address
with our own work units that burnout and we had
maybe missed it already too Fire department personnel addressed it
a little differently I think than we did. We sat
(15:07):
down and talked about what that looks like. But we
also didn't want to make anybody go home when maybe
they didn't have a home, yeah, or their home wasn't suitable,
or there's no power, there's no water, there's no internet,
the lifelines are down. Some people, you know, the station
was their new home.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
We talked about that too, you know here I think,
and it's for everybody that was in different situations. But
you were going and going and going and going and
not really having time to process everything that was going on.
So it was kind of like a way for you
not to have to do that, Like being at work
was a way for us to not have to think
about what we did have, you know, like to deal
with it.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Really the activity there was something like the mental aspects
of it.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Yeah, And so afterwards is when we were just kind
of like crashing, like, man, what did what just happened?
You know, because for those first few weeks, we weren't
processing anything that was happening.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
I'm gonna be real honest, A year later, I don't
think we have deal fully processed what it's happened it
just Kavin, can you speak to that. I don't feel
like we have. And we've talked about this a lot especially,
and are.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Out there seeing things that nobody should ever see. So
I can't even imagine the mental toll that was taking.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
Yeah, I think, No, I don't think we have. I
don't know. I don't know even that a year for
some would say there's been enough time to do that,
because I don't know that. We do a pretty good
job of it together, even in our own groups, and
(16:35):
there really hasn't been that. All right, I'm ready to
talk about this. There hasn't been even with the year
coming and going and all the things we did around it.
I think it just kept us busy enough to not
have to deal with it, if we're being honest. But
for me, I think when I really realized how how
much I wasn't doing well with addressing all of the stuff,
(16:57):
and what hit me the most is the toll it
was taking all my kids. Yeah, they you know, we
talked at length about what the kids in this generation
have already been through. We go through a COVID spell
and then we go through what we did here in
the twenty twenty era of just not being home because
of everything that wanted.
Speaker 8 (17:14):
To happen in Nashville.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
My kids have seen and learned, you know, through the
job and what I do, but this was different for them.
You know, they're at home. Both their mom and dad
are working through every day of it. I don't think
my wife took a single day off either, so she
was at the hospital most of those days. And so
they're at home and then by the time I get home,
it's time for them to go to bed, and they're
just they're wanting their dad around. Yeah, And I think
(17:37):
I did a very poor job of recognizing that even
though I had this duty and I was supposed to
be there, I was missing this. And I think that
was the bigger driver for my wife to say, you
need a couple of days, and so she she made
me take a couple We got in the car and
we went to her sister's house in Columbia, and I
remember she even drove, which she usually doesn't when we're
(18:01):
taking a trip like that, but she drove. And they
took both of my phones and my radio away from me,
and I'd been all of us connected to all of
those non stop. I would love to see that too
rise in minutes when it finally came back, When it
finally came back up and we could start using it, yeah,
we blew it out of the water, I guarantee. But
(18:25):
and then, to be truly honest, I think that was
the first time I took a breath. And then I
don't know. I think my son saw it, but I
think driving to Columbia, I just cried. I can't really
say why other than just an immense moment to let
it out. And it wasn't a specific event. It wasn't.
(18:47):
I think it was overall all of the things, and
then the then also the pouring of how many blessings
we did have right as our family, as our community,
as our department fared really well. Right, we had some blows,
but it was this and then also then it creeps in.
Speaker 8 (19:08):
Man, there's gonna be a lot of work to do.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
And so that weekend I didn't didn't have my phones,
didn't know anything that was going on. I think I
was allowed one phone call, and that was to Greg Biffel.
My wife allowed that one, but being a NASCAR fan,
I think she's going to allow that one. She didn't
really believe it was him on the phone to begin with.
(19:32):
But you know, his call came in to bring us
those starlinks and that was one that I had to take,
but then they snatched it right back. Yeah, and I
slept like normal. It was like more than four hours
and we had like normal access. But what was also
really weird is we wanted to go there to stuck
up and get as much as we could to bring back,
(19:52):
and it was like normal. Yeah, everything in Colombia was,
which has got to be weird. It was.
Speaker 8 (19:58):
It's a very it's into.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Mine, joh, I mean, because you know what's going.
Speaker 8 (20:01):
On back on.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Yeah, you feel a little guilty, like kind of living
in that normalcy for a minute, even just for a minute.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
And I think it's the part of the reason we
want to do this podcast is to number one, let
people know that it's okay to hurt, to be confused,
even a year later. I mean, these are real American
heroes man. In my eyes, you guys are and you guys,
you're the tough guys. But even even the police they
have a hard time to don't cause they're people. Absolutely,
you were great people, and I just want people to
(20:28):
know it's okay to have those feelings. It's okay if
you have a process. It's okay to feel like, what
the hell am I doing? Because we're still in the
same boat. So it's it's okay to not be Okay.
We said that a thousand times during the storm, but
it's true.
Speaker 6 (20:41):
Yeah, and I'm you know, glad you say that we
the men and women of this department. You want to
brag on your department, no matter what department you're in.
I've been in several, but you don't. You don't really
know until you're tested. Yeah, and this was this was
a test of all tests. And they stood up every
day doing every bit of work that you wouldn't imagine
(21:07):
that their role would take them, like setting up this
depository to accept donations and get food out and collect
diapers and stack toilet paper rolls. I mean, somebody had
to do that. And the men and women that logistics
crew incredible, Like when you show up over there and
you're not needing for anything. And then the best blessing
(21:28):
I think of it all is they not only got
to serve the department, but then there was so much
left over. We got to serve more community. Right, here's
a place to go because the community needed it too,
you know, I told you that one story of the
lady when we were with the FEMA crew getting ready
to go in to try to rescue that group off
of the Biltmore State, she was she had walked out
of her neighborhood to the ingles because she needed food
(21:51):
for her family, she needed water, and her anger was appropriate, right,
Her anger wasn't. It was directed at us, but she
needed an outlet.
Speaker 9 (22:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
And the bottom line, and I'll spare all the words
she used, was someone needs to open this place up.
We need food.
Speaker 9 (22:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:06):
And that was a reality hit, even for some of
the New Jersey guys that were there with us, that
had been through this before, right, they have seen this
was people hurting, Yeah, and this is the third day.
People are hurting. Man, what are we What are you
looking at? And so the test for the agency and
(22:26):
the resolve of the men and women that are there
is a huge testament to everyone that works there, because
half of them that didn't have to come back in
were the first ones to show up the next day.
And oftentimes we talk about like that work that was
in the field that you could see, but that work
(22:47):
that wasn't necessarily palpable that was occurringh was what actually
allowed us to do it. Every day we showed back
up with a new crew that had just come in
from town, and somebody already had a hotel set up
for them, already had breakfast ready for them in the morning,
and then told them when to come back for lunch.
Somebody had already figured that out. And if it wasn't
for that, and we missed that a lot, we couldn't
(23:09):
done any of that work.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Those little forgotten about things. Yeah, I meant everything.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Oh yeah, I mean when you when you have nothing
like because there was no food, there was no showers,
there was no water, So to even get a shipment
of water at that point was wow.
Speaker 7 (23:23):
This is life saving in this moment.
Speaker 6 (23:25):
Family members of you know, of our officers and friends
of theirs just coming in right to do whatever you
needed them to do. Yeah, nobody ever complained once about
a task that they were giving. You felt weird. I
think we felt weird in our position having somebody come in,
you know, even an owner of a company, and say
(23:46):
what can I do to help me? And you're like,
can you go deliver this for me?
Speaker 7 (23:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (23:51):
Or you know without hesitation, right, on one of our
providers coming in and he's like, hey, I got two hands,
what do you need me to do? And he drew
to install Starlingk's.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I can do that.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
All day, I didn't see him, and the next thing
I know, he came back. He installed a bunch to
get infrastructure back up. To the two Cecil boys. They
showed up just to do truly grunt work, and their
mom called and said, hey, the United Way doesn't need
my boys. Where do you need them?
Speaker 9 (24:16):
Like?
Speaker 2 (24:16):
We could put them to work.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
They're big boys. I don't know if you've met them.
They are big boys, and they can move a lot.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Of stuff and good night.
Speaker 10 (24:22):
And we put them to work to include you know,
and I didn't know we would use them, but you
know Adam Copeland, you know the edge him and Beth
amazing during this to just be an outreach to people
we couldn't.
Speaker 6 (24:34):
Normally get a hold of, and then to use who
he is to drive home and I missed that piece,
but he explained it as he was writing with me
that day, that hey, listen, that's that's what we're supposed
to do, right and it matters.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
You know how many people we heard say that just
because it's the right thing to do. It's what we're
supposed to do.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
And he's like, what else do you need me to do?
And I'm like, I think you did it today. Don't
think you showing up. I now get it. While we
see these big names come out because it brings a
small lift. Right when we walked him through off these
this this FEMA team that had just come off of
they their faces because they were like, man, that's yeah,
(25:14):
and for just a minute they didn't think about all
of that craziness. And I don't think I processed to
that why that mattered, but it did. And then he
stayed over and served everybody food and his family came
and it's just that's that's something you can't create. That's
something that's within people, and it came out and.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I think it's western North Carolina strong. That's what that
is right there, Captain Moore, Thank you, sir, Thank you
for having me.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Carol.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
I got to ask you, since you're this close to
Chimney Rock, we've seen pictures that we've been seeing pictures.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
Are those I don't know the way to say it is,
are those real Chimney Rock?
Speaker 6 (25:48):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (25:48):
They are? My best friend she has a camper on
one of the camp sites there and the whole camp
site is gone.
Speaker 9 (25:57):
Yes, this is this is very, very devastatingating to everybody
in this community. I want to thank you guys for
being on and keeping everybody updated, and.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Now we are very honored to have on the Asheville
Police Chief Mike Lamb. So take us back to that
day and what you were going through in those first
days after.
Speaker 11 (26:20):
Well for me, for me personally, my situation was different
because my family, my wife and kids were down at
our house in Charleston. So it was so odd for
me that we were experiencing the you know, the catastrophic
effects of a hurricane in the mountains whenever my wife
and kids were safe in Charleston. Yeah, so that was
(26:42):
it was odd to have that feeling. However, it was
it was good for me to know that they were
safe somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
And so that kind of takes part of the pile
the table show to speak like something you one less
things to worry about.
Speaker 8 (26:54):
It it does.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
As chief, I'd imagine you have a few things on your.
Speaker 11 (26:57):
Mind, just a few, like one or two, but you know,
and so I was able to completely focus on the
safety and security of just like our whole community.
Speaker 8 (27:10):
But personally for me, I was I was just in
awe and.
Speaker 11 (27:17):
Astonished at how our community came together, because throughout that
day of the storm, and even that afternoon and then
the next couple of days, it was just it was
just people from here. You know, I'm born and raised here,
went to Rentals High School. But Mountain folks that were
(27:37):
just out helping each other. So like when I was
driving around that morning, trying to make my way through
the streets as the storm was raging, you know, there's
just I look over and I see a guy in
a pickup truck and he's got a chainsaw out and
he's actively sawing and removing logs from the roadway. And
all I did was just throw up my hand and
(27:58):
waved at him because just showing appreciation. Nobody asked him
to do that. He just came out and started doing
that on his own. So but I just saw act
after act of that, And it was the same thing
with people that were helping my other family members here
in town. My in laws had some flooding in their
(28:18):
cross space and then the downstairs, but my father in
law was able to get a hose out and just
start siphoning it, running the water out down the hill,
and so they were impacted very minimally. My mom was safe.
My sister was making sure that my mom was okay
and ended up flying her out to our family out
in Austin, Texas. And so it was I was able
(28:39):
really to fully concentrate on the work that needed to
be done here.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
So I imagine you being from here. These are the
businesses you went to as a kid with your family,
the high school stadiums you went and watched football at,
or did you play football maybe yet, Okay, you played
football at. And also this is the town, the city
that you're post to protect and be over. Also, so
those emotions of just being your home at being your job,
(29:05):
those first moments of you seeing what was really happening,
how did you feel, like fully feel.
Speaker 8 (29:14):
It was?
Speaker 11 (29:16):
I guess the best way to say is it was devastating. Yeah,
because I remember the first place I went to the
morning of the storm. We got a call that there
were two girls and a dad that was washed into
the river. There's wanted a river at Wreck Park. I
(29:36):
was trying to make my way there, which it was
difficult to get there. The first place I got to
was there was a light, a traffic light that was
swinging through the intersection like a pendulum. So me and
another lieutenant had to basically use rope to tie that
thing to a pole so it had quit swinging. But
eventually we made it there, and think we couldn't get
(29:58):
there because all of swan on O River Road was
blocked by trees, trees, power lines that were down, so
we had to park down behind the Sonic off of
Tunnel Road and then walk in. But thank god that
the girls were safe. Unfortunately the dad got washed away,
(30:19):
but there were neighbors that were close by there that
heard the girls and just ran down to them and
pulled them out of the water and took them to safety.
But I remember just looking at the water that was
flowing down because by this time it backed all the
way up to pass where that Goodwill trailer is down
there on Swanno River Road near Zelia Road, and you
(30:43):
like you.
Speaker 8 (30:44):
All the way across to the wreck park pool, like
the water was was that high and you just couldn't
make your way down there half way.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
It doesn't make sense to see that. No, No, I
saw pictures. I saw video, saw some of it with
my own eyes, and I still I just couldn't process
what I was see it.
Speaker 7 (30:59):
Yeah, well, wreck Park is a place we all went ask.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, it does not make I don't know. It's weird
how your mind kind of freezes up like this, this
is not happening. Oh the other hab is like no,
it's you're looking at it. It's happening here, but it's
it's just an odd.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
Place to be.
Speaker 8 (31:11):
Well.
Speaker 11 (31:11):
And I remember going back after the water's receded and
seeing like that that bridge that's originally that was called
the Craig Dam, and that was there used to be
a lake behind there where the I guess they have
the soccer fields now, and that was actually a power
source for Ashville back in the early nineteen hundreds. And
half of that bridge and half of that dam was
(31:33):
washed away. Is something that's you know, been there for
a century. Was half was half washed away. And then
looking at swan on a river road going up towards
man of Food Bank, that road was just completely destroyed.
And I remember just like getting getting emotional because I'm like,
you know, this is like I used to play there
when I was a kid. I used to go do
(31:54):
the tilta whirl the carousel, go into the nature center
and thank god, all the animals were safe there the
nature center.
Speaker 8 (32:01):
But it was it. Yeah.
Speaker 11 (32:03):
I remember when I brought my wife back up from
Charleston and they saw it that it hit her too,
because just because you know, it's it's our hometown. And
then when you see something that's that powerful, that devastating,
that catastrophic, that can do that to like, you know,
to a whole river bed, it's it's very humbling as well.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Yeah, we've dealt with each other almost on a daily
basis a lot of folks from the APD. You guys,
I don't know, I don't have words to really describe
how just professional and caring and kind and thoughtful you
guys and gals were through the whole process. There was
I just you just been over backwards to help this
(32:47):
community and going into this situation. Did you feel the
weight as a chief? Are you, like, damn, I am
the chief of police, I am in charge of it
a lot. Did you feel that way or is it
just I'm just that's just what I've got to do
and you just did it?
Speaker 8 (33:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Did that occourage you? Did you think about that.
Speaker 8 (33:04):
At all, No I do.
Speaker 11 (33:04):
We really didn't have time to process anything because like,
for example, that day of the storm, in the Emergency
Operations Center, we were sitting there. So I went out
and I was able to get back to the EOC,
and like, we're sitting there and it's like there's this
constant barrage of problems and issues that are hitting us.
(33:27):
And they're not little issues either. Like we got word
that the North Fork Dam was going to fail, and
then they said the flood the fusegate system just dropped
a bucket and that's ten thousand gallons of water, which,
don't get me wrong, that saved.
Speaker 8 (33:42):
A lot of people's lives because.
Speaker 11 (33:43):
Ten thousand gallons of water versus six billion gallons of
water if that day would have failed, is a big difference.
And so when we got worried about that, we knew
that there was going to be a surge coming through
and so we needed to alert people to try to
get people back because of that that extra flood water
that was coming down. And then we found we heard
(34:05):
that Bee Tree may fail. Now we ended up finding
out that that was fake, that that was actually somebody
who was trying to get people to evacuate so he
could break into their houses, which there's that's absolutely horrible.
Sheriff's office did a great job in finding that person
and arresting them, and then we got word that Mission
Hospital may need to be evacuated. So we're thinking, how,
(34:27):
you know, thank god that neither dam failed, that was
both of those were blessings. But then how are we
going to evacuate Mission because they don't have power, they
don't have water, you know, and thankfully.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
The entire hospital. Yeah, thought, that makes me nervous.
Speaker 11 (34:41):
So it's like all these problems are coming in and
then I've got a you know, I had to think
about how do we stop crime from happening while all
this is going on? Because I remember back in two
thousand and four whenever we had the flooding, you know,
it was nowhere near the level that we had this time,
but I knew that there would be because we had
to prevent people from going to builtmore village back then
(35:03):
and breaking into shops, So I knew it was going
to be on a whole different level. So that's I
had to figure out a plan there, which thankfully I
was able to talk to the city.
Speaker 8 (35:12):
Manager and then the Mayor and.
Speaker 11 (35:14):
Then city illegal because we're all sitting in the same
room and say we need to.
Speaker 8 (35:18):
Do a curfew.
Speaker 11 (35:19):
And that's when we did the curfew from sundown to
sun up every day.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Y'all shut it down, though, I mean you you got
I'm still I mean, obviously you can't stop everything. Now,
you guys shut down the bed with a quickness and
let people know.
Speaker 9 (35:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
I didn't feel like there was in Sunny Stories as
yeah as I was expect because we thought, I mean,
there were a few I remember the first day we
drove here, I was like, this is going to get
really bad, Like people are going to be desperate, people
are going to be the.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Yeah, like the apocalypse.
Speaker 7 (35:46):
Yeah, I was impressed by all of the.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Kudos to you and your department for shutting that down.
Speaker 11 (35:51):
Yeah, we had. It was a lot of a lot
of good work by the officers. Like there were officers
working eighteen hour days. They some stayed at work for
days in a row, and it was everybody had this
sensub mission. And but there was also the help from
the community that we got. There was also the help
from other law enforcement agencies that came in, like that
(36:12):
night of the curfew, the first night of the curfew,
we had bars that were open downtown that were serving
drinks and we we I went by one and I
was like, there's a curfew, you all can't be here.
And people started arguing with me about well, we need
to be able to let off some steam and drink
and I'm like, no, you know, we're trying to deal
with looters. We don't need to be dealing with drunks.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
And but Eddie go home.
Speaker 12 (36:39):
H Thank god I didn't see out, but yeah, we know.
Speaker 11 (36:50):
We had help from a l e that night, so
Ali actually went out and they started helping us to
shut down the bars so that we wouldn't have to
have those issues. And then that weekend, so you know,
the storm hit Friday, well, then Saturday and Sunday we
had it. We had a homicide, domestic homicide where a
lady shot a guy in the head and killed him.
(37:12):
And then we had a stabbing the next day where
it was a kind of drug deal gone bad and
one person was stabbed and killed and then another person
was stabbed and they were hit or miss as far
as dying or not, but they ended up surviving. And
then we had somebody who tried to burn down an
apartment complex who was in a state of mental crisis,
(37:34):
and so we had all these things in addition to
trying to make sure the curfew was nobody was out
and nobody was looting, and so it was just one
thing after another for that first weekend. But then as
we started getting other law enforcement agencies to come in
and help, it really helped us out tremendously, and I
think we owe a debt, you know we. I'm so
(37:56):
glad that Brandon was able to get this truckler side
by side Drone Response team because I feel like that's
our way of paying back to entities that helped us,
and now we have a resource that we can provide
for them.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
I remember one story just this is we haven't really
talked a lot about the policing side, but when someone
was breaking was it where were they breaking into that
you use the drone that you in the side by side?
Wasn't that a way that you were able to Was
it down at the Nature Center?
Speaker 8 (38:26):
It was?
Speaker 11 (38:26):
It was up on Gashes Creek because we couldn't get
there because it was so muddy, and we were able
to get a drone deployed to get overhead and then
get I think it was if I remember quickly, I
think it was Greensboro had an ATV team that they
brought up from there and they were able to respond
to it.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
So cool, because I feel like there's a manual for
most situations y'all might get in on a day to
day basis, you know, the murder aspects, the car chases. Yeah,
and I'm sure that there are police stations that are
more on the coast or somewhere that have, you know,
hurricane kind of plans. But for I imagine a lot
of it was just kind of make it up as
you go and hope for the best.
Speaker 8 (39:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 11 (39:04):
For example, we had Walmart down on the river. A
group had broke into there to try to get to
the gun vault and start stealing like rifles and shotguns.
And thankfully a lot some of our detectives are gun
Crime Team were able to get down there and they
were like wading through knee deep mud. One of the
(39:25):
guys was like, Chief, I got a footchase today in
the mud in Walmart and caught the guy.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
In the story.
Speaker 11 (39:33):
But the thing is like they it's outside the box
and it was something new and they they loved it
being able to get out there and then problem solve.
And I think that's one thing that cops are really
great at is there's no set like problem solving, like
paradigm for every situation. It's like you're constantly trying to
(39:53):
figure out what's the best way to to try to
help this person or make this situation so.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Just like they're just like us, we have nobody over going.
Speaker 7 (40:00):
Just make it a little different.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
I think.
Speaker 7 (40:03):
The next song is a little different than Chaser Walmart.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
But what would you do different? Looking back? Is there
one thing that stands out to you that if you had,
you know, the knowledge, now, what would you do different?
Had to pick one thing?
Speaker 11 (40:16):
Oh gosh, probably tell people to go home quicker. We
we had the folks wanted to be there, but there
was a lot of burnout that that went with that.
Speaker 12 (40:31):
You know.
Speaker 11 (40:31):
Thank god Brandon was able to get out of town,
get away, you go down to Columbia. I think it
was after the third week. I was able to get
down to Charleston and see my family. So that was
that was that was good, Uh, just to be able
to get down there and and and you know, and
it's funny, I remember our our hot water heater down
(40:53):
there went out and stopped working two days before I
was supposed to be down there, and I called somebody
down there and said, you're going to get to my
house and fix the hot water heater because I have
not had a shower like a hot shell you can
stand a few minutes yet, because at that time we
were just taking like gallons of water and pouring it
(41:15):
over our head to try to try to get any
kind of shower. But and you know, really, I think
focusing on people's ability to take care of themselves. Like
I remember one of the guys was telling me that
was down doing body recoveries on the river. So they're
down there drones or flying into different like abandoned cars
(41:37):
to see if there's any bodies in there, and they'd
recovered a couple of different people they found deceased on
the river. And as they're walking in the mud and
looking for dead bodies, they see this tree crew that's
up there and they're cutting up trees that are blocking
the road, and one of the guys walks up to him.
It's like, hey, do you do you mind if we
(41:57):
just help you cut trees for a little bit, and
They're like, oh, yeah, sure, here you go. And so
that team for just like fifteen twenty minutes just did
nothing but saw logs. So it was something that was work,
but it was something different to take their mind off
of the you know.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
The heart the task that they were doing. Yeah, well,
have you had a chance to really kind of peel
back the layers and then you know, think about it
and then kind of deal with what you went through.
I mean, are you still dealing with No.
Speaker 11 (42:29):
Of course, Gosh, I've been doing therapy for years now,
you know. I had my shooting back in twenty eighteen
and then started doing therapy after that. I did prolonged
exposure therapy right after my shooting, where I just all
I did was talk about my shooting over and over
and over again. And I tell the officers that I'm like, hey,
I've done therapy since twenty eighteen. It's something that is
(42:52):
extremely helpful and something that is it makes you more resilient,
it makes you better able to handle a variety of
situations and be able to cope with those in a
positive way. And one thing that's been really helpful it's
doing stuff like this, you know, being able to talk
about the experiences from Helene in different avenues, and I
(43:16):
think the more you talk about something, the more that
you're able to process it a healthy way.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Chief, thank you for your time. We appreciate all that
you do this already.
Speaker 12 (43:24):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (43:25):
We know that you're retiring, and we want to thank
you for everything you've done. I know everybody's gonna miss you.
I've never heard one bad thing said about you, so
thank you for everything you've always done.
Speaker 8 (43:35):
Well.
Speaker 11 (43:35):
Thank you so much. Yeah, it's a it's bittersweet for sure.
I love the agency, I love our community. I love
the men and women of the Ashville Police Department. So
I'm gonna enjoy spending more time with my family, but
I'm also gonna miss it.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
I feel like there, I feel like you're gonna still
be there in something like I feel like he's just
gonna pop into meetings here and there, bring lunch, but
just try to see what's still going on.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Well, sir, welcome here. I appreciate that we we had
a going away cake for you, but mandate.
Speaker 8 (44:05):
It so I'm gonna get one of them.
Speaker 12 (44:07):
LEAs is over here.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
On me, okay, jeef, thank.
Speaker 8 (44:13):
You sirs, My pleasure.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
Definitely, thank y'all for listening to Stories after the Storm.
One year later, we're still learning, we're still rebuilding, and
still standing strong together.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
As we move forward, we do it as neighbors, as family,
and as Western North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
One year after Helen, the voices of Western North Carolina
share their stories. This is Stories After the Storm with
Eddie Fox and Amanda Fox
One year after Helene, the voices of Western North Carolina
share their stories. This is Stories After the Storm with
Eddie Fox and Amanda Fox.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Episode two The Aftermath. In episode one, we look back
at the night Helene hit, the fear, the chaos, the
moments that changed everything for Western North Carolina.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Now we're going to talk about what came after. When
the rain stopped, but the heartbreak didn't.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
The hours and the days that followed were filled with
silence and sirens, roades, washed away, homes gone, folks searching
for their loved ones.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
But in that same silence, something else started to grow. Kindness, courage,
neighbors helping neighbors.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
In this episode, you'll hear calls from families and businesses
who lost everything, And our guest are a couple of
real American heroes who put this community before anything.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Else, Because in those first days after Helene, the real
story wasn't just the damage, it was the people who
refused to give up.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
This this is episode two, The Aftermath.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Down on Riverside Drive where Southern States is and the
auto O'Reilly's auto parts. I have never I've lived here
all my life, born and raised right over in the
biltmore square area. I've never seen the river get out
like it has now, and it's over over, it's over
(01:30):
O'Reilly's Auto Parts. You can't see it tank. Oh my god,
you can't see it down there. It's unbelievable down there
on Riverside Drive, all the bars down there. I know
they were going to close down eventually, but this took
care of it, because I mean, it's washed way down.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
There at the shell over here on Bard Road across
from Taco Bell about thirty minutes ago, it looks like
somebody was shot over in altercation in the gas. So yeah,
that's just getting taken care of. There's still some cops
that and doing who's already left.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Our first guest is Captain Brandon Moore from the Asheville
Police Department. So take us back to the hours after
the storm and how how it affected you and your
family on a personal level.
Speaker 6 (02:17):
So mine's a much different story than most because I
wasn't here when the storm.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Hit, which I would I would think is terrifying. It
was with the family that even being out in the floodwaters,
it would because you don't you don't know.
Speaker 6 (02:30):
Yeah, I don't think I knew how bad then and
we've talked about kind of what occurred to getting home,
but you know, being in California knowing it's coming, and
then being told how bad it is directly from you know,
the assistant fire chief that you know that intels solid.
(02:51):
It's bad and I can't do anything about it. Thankfully,
by God's grace, only did I have my father in
law at my house with my family, not knowing anything
was coming. But at least I knew someone else was
there because there was no getting through. There was no
We all know what that looked like and how you tried.
So for me, the worst part was being stuck in O'Hare,
(03:14):
not knowing how I was getting home, but I was
coming home, and the only phone call that got answered
was that guy sitting at the desk of the emergency
operations center and he picks up the phone and the chief, yeah,
you can just hear in his voice how bad it is.
And me also, if he's answering the phone at the
(03:34):
emergency operation center, it's real bad because that's not something
he can't do, but not his role, right, and so
something's really a miss and so still nothing coming out.
I think that was the other piece too, is when
you're in here, and we've heard stories from a lot
of people that they thought people knew how bad it was,
(03:54):
but nothing was coming out. Even sitting there at O'Hare,
I knew, okay, the if I if this flight does
take off and I grabbed one to Greenville, I need
to at least eat something because I will not be
able to eat anything again for I don't know how long,
based on what I'll find when I get down there.
So I'm sitting there trying to put something in my
stomach and seeing the news, expecting to see the news.
(04:16):
There's nothing.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
There was no.
Speaker 7 (04:17):
No, That's what I was gonna ask, is what you
saw in the news?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Well it's nothing.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
There was you know, the normal we'll see on each
weather channel that there's this storm and it's made landfall.
But there's nothing like And I think this comes from
my experience in living in Charleston. You expect to see
the you know where the storm just left pretty quickly,
you know, rather fast, you'll start seeing images come out
of how do you recto till that?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Because you know something's going on, but you're not saying
what your mind.
Speaker 6 (04:43):
I think I started steadily dialing numbers, and no numbers answered.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
So it was the point when you're sitting there, had
you talked to your family, did you know at that
point that they were okay or not?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Not yet.
Speaker 6 (04:53):
I hadn't been able to get I hadn't get anybody
on the phone. I did send a text in an
effort because I left out of California at like three
something in the morning to get to the airport, and
then you know, by then still time here. I wasn't
going to call anybody, but knowing it's about to hit,
so yeah, no, that's the only the chief was the
only contact I had, and it wasn't until I landed
(05:15):
in Greenville. I think that I actually was able to
get I think I got a text back from my wife,
but I never got her on the phone. And it
wasn't until I landed in Greenville, and Greenville Airport had
no power, so it was still touch and go from
that location just to get out of there. And so
when I finally got her on the phone from a
family side of things, first, it was you know, very
(05:39):
just blessed to hear that they're okay. Some neighbors around
us sustained some damage, but overall, the neighborhood was good,
Our family was good. They had the basic needs they
needed at that point in time. And then for me,
I'd already gotten another phone call from my best friend
that lives in Charleston that he's on his way, and
so he had already loaded up everything we need it
(06:00):
or thought we needed, and he was coming. So at
some point he's probably going to beat me there or
get there right after I do. So it was good,
you know, from that perspective, knowing, But now I'm focused
on how I get home. And when my wife did
finally get on the phone, it was you don't need
to come. There's no way for you to get home, like, no,
I'm coming home like and she's like, no, I have
(06:22):
looked and there is zero routes we know available right
now that everything's done. And she says, you just you're
not think she said, you're not here. You don't know
that everything's cut off.
Speaker 7 (06:34):
That's that is a dad and a husband and a
police officer. You're like, yeah, no, you.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Got to be there like a spiritual level.
Speaker 6 (06:39):
Well, I mean that's yeah, and I think that's that
is where it goes. You know, only only by God's
grace was the family safe and did I make it back?
And then and then the game of Frogger began on
my route home because I literally, yeah, literally I got
I told this guy. I don't know how much I
said to the guy at the car place, but he's like, sir,
(07:01):
we just don't have a car clean for you. I'm like, sir,
have not gotten better. It ain't gonna stake because where
I'm going, I don't know that you want it back.
It's going to kind of be a days of thunder return.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
We don't have roads.
Speaker 6 (07:13):
It's so and I immediately again I think God provided
that he would have answered the phone told me what
they needed that was drone batteries. We kind of told
that story and that I would be less than ten
miles away from our drone provider, and he opened up
his shop for me just to go take whatever we needed.
So I got the biggest vehicle they had, dirty and all,
(07:35):
and started heading over there to get all of these things.
And then I got her on the phone one last
time after I loaded up, telling her I'm which way
I'm heading home. She's like, I got shut down.
Speaker 8 (07:43):
You're not going to make it.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
Like I'm going to find a way to make it
and then I started up the road and it was
you know, clear, eerily dark, nobody on the road. And
then treat and so it made that trip, you know,
from here to Greenville. Made that trip what should be
forty seven minutes or so, made it three over three hours.
And I got stuck right at exit forty nine. And
(08:05):
that was because of all the water, you know, three
miles up. They wouldn't let anybody cross. So now I'm dead.
And I tried every avenue there was. And now angry wife.
Speaker 7 (08:18):
Because I told you so well.
Speaker 6 (08:20):
She and I don't think I ever thought she was wrong,
because she usually isn't right. But that part didn't matter.
And I think we still kind of go back and
forth about this because this is still a very touchy
point for her that from her perspective, she was home,
her dad was there, and the kids are safe. I'm
the one that's not safe now, and I didn't I
(08:43):
wasn't hearing that right. In retrospect, I get her position.
I probably would have sayen the same thing on the
back end, but I was thinking, get home, get to work.
There's lots to do, and I can't sit down here
in Greenville. But I wasn't I definitely was not looking
through her lens on this, and she was one hundred
(09:03):
percent right. I was the one causing some strife with
being out doing crazy things, just trying to get home,
when at that point we were all in a good place.
Speaker 9 (09:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (09:13):
So from her perspective, very poor decision making, and she
probably wasn't wrong.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
To be fair, though, I think we all were looking
through different lenses.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
It's we're not accustomed to anything that occurred that day
or a couple of days after, and so it's you know,
I think we all just did the best we could.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
It wasn't very I feel like everybody was just it
was in that moment. You were making moment by moment decisions.
You weren't really thinking about the ten minutes, the hour
from then. It was just like, right now, this is
what I'm doing, and then this is where I'm going
to go. Yeah, so I get why you were like,
I need, I need to get home.
Speaker 6 (09:51):
Yeah, And it was I also thought I'd get this
amazing welcome when I walked through the door. Yeah, not
so much, not when I had envisioned in the song.
Speaker 8 (10:13):
It was.
Speaker 6 (10:13):
It was, it was not so lovely, And I get
I get it. Yeah, And I think then what we'll
probably get to here in the next couple of minutes
also speaks to how much they went through with what
we did, and all of the families of all of
the responders that were out there went through a whole
lot of things that they just had to hold it
(10:34):
together while we were doing these.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
That's my question, how how do you do that?
Speaker 6 (10:41):
We don't. We don't do it well. If we're being
really honest, we don't. We don't do it well. I
think we're doing it better, and I'm very happy that
Lamb has been in the position he's been in as
long as he has to kind of push towards better wellness.
We're not there yet, but we are in a much
better place than I think any of us would say
(11:03):
we started. When we did this, it really wasn't something
that you focused on.
Speaker 8 (11:08):
You were just told to.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
Go do the job, and nobody asked later how you were. Now,
you know, we're asking well in the media, and we
were asking what we weren't prepared to respond to it.
And I think now I feel better to say we're
asking regularly and we have outlets. Yeah, so we haven't
(11:29):
made the complete stride, but we're making great attempts at
trying to do better as it came to the storm.
I think, again, there's script out there for how you
respond from both police, fire and MS perspective to these events,
but there's no true guideline for how you engage with
responders because they're all going to be different. Even with
(11:52):
what we each did, there's a different level of what
we engaged saw and had to kind of overcome, and
I think that's really hard to put everybody into this
single box to figure it out. Even from my perspective,
I think to get to where you know, I was
pulled off of my regular duties as the patrol commander
(12:15):
and put over drones because we saw how necessary, and
the chiefs made that decision that hey, this needs to
be a focus, let's do this, and they backfilled my position,
which gave me relief to know that because stuff still
happened in the city, this was a response, but there
was still regular activity occurring within the city, right, and
so we still had And that's the part that's missed
(12:37):
is a lot of people, when they may or may
not have had this specific role in the storm, they
played a vital role in the storm response, because the
city still functioned day after day, good, bad and indifferent.
We still had lots of activities occur, a homicide, multiple fires,
we had multiple issues just regular policing activities, and somebody
(12:59):
had to a address that. And so my new assignment
put me, you know, day in day out right there
alongside of I don't know how many total people. I
wish we could just guess at a number that showed
up to help what we'd be wrong. You'll get a
couple hours sleep, come back in. There was no showering,
so you could skip that step. That's super easy. And
(13:19):
so you know, but yeah, I think I shared with
you too the other before we get into the day
to day and how that toll takes on you is
I didn't expect when I drove home at the end
of each day, whatever time that was, at the end
of a briefing, eight thirty nine o'clock, all the neighbors
have had zero access, you know, any of your family,
(13:41):
Like there's twenty something of people nearly standing at the
driveway because well, I'm the news for the day. Yeah,
and I don't think I realized, you know, I want
to give that to them and it's very clear. I'm
a talker, so you know that's not going to be
something I wouldn't do, but that the you drive through
all of that, and then at some point later that
(14:01):
evening when we're supposed to be going to bed, is
when my wife wants to also, well how are you?
And she's really good about that for me, But there's
so much in there. You're like the news outlet for
all your neighbors who hadn't been able to see what
was going on. How bad is it? We didn't venture out?
You know, my business is here, you know, do we
know what it looks like? And so after I'd say
(14:25):
ten days, I think ten days in, my wife finally said,
you need a day. You don't we need to How
can I get you to not go to work today?
It's not really an option. So none of us are
not going to work, she says, no, I just I
see you and you're not right, and so find a
(14:46):
way or I'll make a call, which she would have.
And so I think we realized that was around the
time I think all of us were trying to address
with our own work units that burnout and we had
maybe missed it already too Fire department personnel addressed it
a little differently I think than we did. We sat
(15:07):
down and talked about what that looks like. But we
also didn't want to make anybody go home when maybe
they didn't have a home, yeah, or their home wasn't suitable,
or there's no power, there's no water, there's no internet,
the lifelines are down. Some people, you know, the station
was their new home.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
We talked about that too, you know here I think,
and it's for everybody that was in different situations. But
you were going and going and going and going and
not really having time to process everything that was going on.
So it was kind of like a way for you
not to have to do that, Like being at work
was a way for us to not have to think
about what we did have, you know, like to deal
with it.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Really the activity there was something like the mental aspects
of it.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Yeah, And so afterwards is when we were just kind
of like crashing, like, man, what did what just happened?
You know, because for those first few weeks, we weren't
processing anything that was happening.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
I'm gonna be real honest, A year later, I don't
think we have deal fully processed what it's happened it
just Kavin, can you speak to that. I don't feel
like we have. And we've talked about this a lot especially,
and are.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Out there seeing things that nobody should ever see. So
I can't even imagine the mental toll that was taking.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
Yeah, I think, No, I don't think we have. I
don't know. I don't know even that a year for
some would say there's been enough time to do that,
because I don't know that. We do a pretty good
job of it together, even in our own groups, and
(16:35):
there really hasn't been that. All right, I'm ready to
talk about this. There hasn't been even with the year
coming and going and all the things we did around it.
I think it just kept us busy enough to not
have to deal with it, if we're being honest. But
for me, I think when I really realized how how
much I wasn't doing well with addressing all of the stuff,
(16:57):
and what hit me the most is the toll it
was taking all my kids. Yeah, they you know, we
talked at length about what the kids in this generation
have already been through. We go through a COVID spell
and then we go through what we did here in
the twenty twenty era of just not being home because
of everything that wanted.
Speaker 8 (17:14):
To happen in Nashville.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
My kids have seen and learned, you know, through the
job and what I do, but this was different for them.
You know, they're at home. Both their mom and dad
are working through every day of it. I don't think
my wife took a single day off either, so she
was at the hospital most of those days. And so
they're at home and then by the time I get home,
it's time for them to go to bed, and they're
just they're wanting their dad around. Yeah, And I think
(17:37):
I did a very poor job of recognizing that even
though I had this duty and I was supposed to
be there, I was missing this. And I think that
was the bigger driver for my wife to say, you
need a couple of days, and so she she made
me take a couple We got in the car and
we went to her sister's house in Columbia, and I
remember she even drove, which she usually doesn't when we're
(18:01):
taking a trip like that, but she drove. And they
took both of my phones and my radio away from me,
and I'd been all of us connected to all of
those non stop. I would love to see that too
rise in minutes when it finally came back, When it
finally came back up and we could start using it, yeah,
we blew it out of the water, I guarantee. But
(18:25):
and then, to be truly honest, I think that was
the first time I took a breath. And then I
don't know. I think my son saw it, but I
think driving to Columbia, I just cried. I can't really
say why other than just an immense moment to let
it out. And it wasn't a specific event. It wasn't.
(18:47):
I think it was overall all of the things, and
then the then also the pouring of how many blessings
we did have right as our family, as our community,
as our department fared really well. Right, we had some blows,
but it was this and then also then it creeps in.
Speaker 8 (19:08):
Man, there's gonna be a lot of work to do.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
And so that weekend I didn't didn't have my phones,
didn't know anything that was going on. I think I
was allowed one phone call, and that was to Greg Biffel.
My wife allowed that one, but being a NASCAR fan,
I think she's going to allow that one. She didn't
really believe it was him on the phone to begin with.
(19:32):
But you know, his call came in to bring us
those starlinks and that was one that I had to take,
but then they snatched it right back. Yeah, and I
slept like normal. It was like more than four hours
and we had like normal access. But what was also
really weird is we wanted to go there to stuck
up and get as much as we could to bring back,
(19:52):
and it was like normal. Yeah, everything in Colombia was,
which has got to be weird. It was.
Speaker 8 (19:58):
It's a very it's into.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Mine, joh, I mean, because you know what's going.
Speaker 8 (20:01):
On back on.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Yeah, you feel a little guilty, like kind of living
in that normalcy for a minute, even just for a minute.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
And I think it's the part of the reason we
want to do this podcast is to number one, let
people know that it's okay to hurt, to be confused,
even a year later. I mean, these are real American
heroes man. In my eyes, you guys are and you guys,
you're the tough guys. But even even the police they
have a hard time to don't cause they're people. Absolutely,
you were great people, and I just want people to
(20:28):
know it's okay to have those feelings. It's okay if
you have a process. It's okay to feel like, what
the hell am I doing? Because we're still in the
same boat. So it's it's okay to not be Okay.
We said that a thousand times during the storm, but
it's true.
Speaker 6 (20:41):
Yeah, and I'm you know, glad you say that we
the men and women of this department. You want to
brag on your department, no matter what department you're in.
I've been in several, but you don't. You don't really
know until you're tested. Yeah, and this was this was
a test of all tests. And they stood up every
day doing every bit of work that you wouldn't imagine
(21:07):
that their role would take them, like setting up this
depository to accept donations and get food out and collect
diapers and stack toilet paper rolls. I mean, somebody had
to do that. And the men and women that logistics
crew incredible, Like when you show up over there and
you're not needing for anything. And then the best blessing
(21:28):
I think of it all is they not only got
to serve the department, but then there was so much
left over. We got to serve more community. Right, here's
a place to go because the community needed it too,
you know, I told you that one story of the
lady when we were with the FEMA crew getting ready
to go in to try to rescue that group off
of the Biltmore State, she was she had walked out
of her neighborhood to the ingles because she needed food
(21:51):
for her family, she needed water, and her anger was appropriate, right,
Her anger wasn't. It was directed at us, but she
needed an outlet.
Speaker 9 (22:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
And the bottom line, and I'll spare all the words
she used, was someone needs to open this place up.
We need food.
Speaker 9 (22:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:06):
And that was a reality hit, even for some of
the New Jersey guys that were there with us, that
had been through this before, right, they have seen this
was people hurting, Yeah, and this is the third day.
People are hurting. Man, what are we What are you
looking at? And so the test for the agency and
(22:26):
the resolve of the men and women that are there
is a huge testament to everyone that works there, because
half of them that didn't have to come back in
were the first ones to show up the next day.
And oftentimes we talk about like that work that was
in the field that you could see, but that work
(22:47):
that wasn't necessarily palpable that was occurringh was what actually
allowed us to do it. Every day we showed back
up with a new crew that had just come in
from town, and somebody already had a hotel set up
for them, already had breakfast ready for them in the morning,
and then told them when to come back for lunch.
Somebody had already figured that out. And if it wasn't
for that, and we missed that a lot, we couldn't
(23:09):
done any of that work.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Those little forgotten about things. Yeah, I meant everything.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Oh yeah, I mean when you when you have nothing
like because there was no food, there was no showers,
there was no water, So to even get a shipment
of water at that point was wow.
Speaker 7 (23:23):
This is life saving in this moment.
Speaker 6 (23:25):
Family members of you know, of our officers and friends
of theirs just coming in right to do whatever you
needed them to do. Yeah, nobody ever complained once about
a task that they were giving. You felt weird. I
think we felt weird in our position having somebody come in,
you know, even an owner of a company, and say
(23:46):
what can I do to help me? And you're like,
can you go deliver this for me?
Speaker 7 (23:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (23:51):
Or you know without hesitation, right, on one of our
providers coming in and he's like, hey, I got two hands,
what do you need me to do? And he drew
to install Starlingk's.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I can do that.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
All day, I didn't see him, and the next thing
I know, he came back. He installed a bunch to
get infrastructure back up. To the two Cecil boys. They
showed up just to do truly grunt work, and their
mom called and said, hey, the United Way doesn't need
my boys. Where do you need them?
Speaker 9 (24:16):
Like?
Speaker 2 (24:16):
We could put them to work.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
They're big boys. I don't know if you've met them.
They are big boys, and they can move a lot.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Of stuff and good night.
Speaker 10 (24:22):
And we put them to work to include you know,
and I didn't know we would use them, but you
know Adam Copeland, you know the edge him and Beth
amazing during this to just be an outreach to people
we couldn't.
Speaker 6 (24:34):
Normally get a hold of, and then to use who
he is to drive home and I missed that piece,
but he explained it as he was writing with me
that day, that hey, listen, that's that's what we're supposed
to do, right and it matters.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
You know how many people we heard say that just
because it's the right thing to do. It's what we're
supposed to do.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
And he's like, what else do you need me to do?
And I'm like, I think you did it today. Don't
think you showing up. I now get it. While we
see these big names come out because it brings a
small lift. Right when we walked him through off these
this this FEMA team that had just come off of
they their faces because they were like, man, that's yeah,
(25:14):
and for just a minute they didn't think about all
of that craziness. And I don't think I processed to
that why that mattered, but it did. And then he
stayed over and served everybody food and his family came
and it's just that's that's something you can't create. That's
something that's within people, and it came out and.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I think it's western North Carolina strong. That's what that
is right there, Captain Moore, Thank you, sir, Thank you
for having me.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Carol.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
I got to ask you, since you're this close to
Chimney Rock, we've seen pictures that we've been seeing pictures.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
Are those I don't know the way to say it is,
are those real Chimney Rock?
Speaker 6 (25:48):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (25:48):
They are? My best friend she has a camper on
one of the camp sites there and the whole camp
site is gone.
Speaker 9 (25:57):
Yes, this is this is very, very devastatingating to everybody
in this community. I want to thank you guys for
being on and keeping everybody updated, and.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Now we are very honored to have on the Asheville
Police Chief Mike Lamb. So take us back to that
day and what you were going through in those first
days after.
Speaker 11 (26:20):
Well for me, for me personally, my situation was different
because my family, my wife and kids were down at
our house in Charleston. So it was so odd for
me that we were experiencing the you know, the catastrophic
effects of a hurricane in the mountains whenever my wife
and kids were safe in Charleston. Yeah, so that was
(26:42):
it was odd to have that feeling. However, it was
it was good for me to know that they were
safe somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
And so that kind of takes part of the pile
the table show to speak like something you one less
things to worry about.
Speaker 8 (26:54):
It it does.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
As chief, I'd imagine you have a few things on your.
Speaker 11 (26:57):
Mind, just a few, like one or two, but you know,
and so I was able to completely focus on the
safety and security of just like our whole community.
Speaker 8 (27:10):
But personally for me, I was I was just in
awe and.
Speaker 11 (27:17):
Astonished at how our community came together, because throughout that
day of the storm, and even that afternoon and then
the next couple of days, it was just it was
just people from here. You know, I'm born and raised here,
went to Rentals High School. But Mountain folks that were
(27:37):
just out helping each other. So like when I was
driving around that morning, trying to make my way through
the streets as the storm was raging, you know, there's
just I look over and I see a guy in
a pickup truck and he's got a chainsaw out and
he's actively sawing and removing logs from the roadway. And
all I did was just throw up my hand and
(27:58):
waved at him because just showing appreciation. Nobody asked him
to do that. He just came out and started doing
that on his own. So but I just saw act
after act of that, And it was the same thing
with people that were helping my other family members here
in town. My in laws had some flooding in their
(28:18):
cross space and then the downstairs, but my father in
law was able to get a hose out and just
start siphoning it, running the water out down the hill,
and so they were impacted very minimally. My mom was safe.
My sister was making sure that my mom was okay
and ended up flying her out to our family out
in Austin, Texas. And so it was I was able
(28:39):
really to fully concentrate on the work that needed to
be done here.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
So I imagine you being from here. These are the
businesses you went to as a kid with your family,
the high school stadiums you went and watched football at,
or did you play football maybe yet, Okay, you played
football at. And also this is the town, the city
that you're post to protect and be over. Also, so
those emotions of just being your home at being your job,
(29:05):
those first moments of you seeing what was really happening,
how did you feel, like fully feel.
Speaker 8 (29:14):
It was?
Speaker 11 (29:16):
I guess the best way to say is it was devastating. Yeah,
because I remember the first place I went to the
morning of the storm. We got a call that there
were two girls and a dad that was washed into
the river. There's wanted a river at Wreck Park. I
(29:36):
was trying to make my way there, which it was
difficult to get there. The first place I got to
was there was a light, a traffic light that was
swinging through the intersection like a pendulum. So me and
another lieutenant had to basically use rope to tie that
thing to a pole so it had quit swinging. But
eventually we made it there, and think we couldn't get
(29:58):
there because all of swan on O River Road was
blocked by trees, trees, power lines that were down, so
we had to park down behind the Sonic off of
Tunnel Road and then walk in. But thank god that
the girls were safe. Unfortunately the dad got washed away,
(30:19):
but there were neighbors that were close by there that
heard the girls and just ran down to them and
pulled them out of the water and took them to safety.
But I remember just looking at the water that was
flowing down because by this time it backed all the
way up to pass where that Goodwill trailer is down
there on Swanno River Road near Zelia Road, and you
(30:43):
like you.
Speaker 8 (30:44):
All the way across to the wreck park pool, like
the water was was that high and you just couldn't
make your way down there half way.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
It doesn't make sense to see that. No, No, I
saw pictures. I saw video, saw some of it with
my own eyes, and I still I just couldn't process
what I was see it.
Speaker 7 (30:59):
Yeah, well, wreck Park is a place we all went ask.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, it does not make I don't know. It's weird
how your mind kind of freezes up like this, this
is not happening. Oh the other hab is like no,
it's you're looking at it. It's happening here, but it's
it's just an odd.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
Place to be.
Speaker 8 (31:11):
Well.
Speaker 11 (31:11):
And I remember going back after the water's receded and
seeing like that that bridge that's originally that was called
the Craig Dam, and that was there used to be
a lake behind there where the I guess they have
the soccer fields now, and that was actually a power
source for Ashville back in the early nineteen hundreds. And
half of that bridge and half of that dam was
(31:33):
washed away. Is something that's you know, been there for
a century. Was half was half washed away. And then
looking at swan on a river road going up towards
man of Food Bank, that road was just completely destroyed.
And I remember just like getting getting emotional because I'm like,
you know, this is like I used to play there
when I was a kid. I used to go do
(31:54):
the tilta whirl the carousel, go into the nature center
and thank god, all the animals were safe there the
nature center.
Speaker 8 (32:01):
But it was it. Yeah.
Speaker 11 (32:03):
I remember when I brought my wife back up from
Charleston and they saw it that it hit her too,
because just because you know, it's it's our hometown. And
then when you see something that's that powerful, that devastating,
that catastrophic, that can do that to like, you know,
to a whole river bed, it's it's very humbling as well.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Yeah, we've dealt with each other almost on a daily
basis a lot of folks from the APD. You guys,
I don't know, I don't have words to really describe
how just professional and caring and kind and thoughtful you
guys and gals were through the whole process. There was
I just you just been over backwards to help this
(32:47):
community and going into this situation. Did you feel the
weight as a chief? Are you, like, damn, I am
the chief of police, I am in charge of it
a lot. Did you feel that way or is it
just I'm just that's just what I've got to do
and you just did it?
Speaker 8 (33:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Did that occourage you? Did you think about that.
Speaker 8 (33:04):
At all, No I do.
Speaker 11 (33:04):
We really didn't have time to process anything because like,
for example, that day of the storm, in the Emergency
Operations Center, we were sitting there. So I went out
and I was able to get back to the EOC,
and like, we're sitting there and it's like there's this
constant barrage of problems and issues that are hitting us.
(33:27):
And they're not little issues either. Like we got word
that the North Fork Dam was going to fail, and
then they said the flood the fusegate system just dropped
a bucket and that's ten thousand gallons of water, which,
don't get me wrong, that saved.
Speaker 8 (33:42):
A lot of people's lives because.
Speaker 11 (33:43):
Ten thousand gallons of water versus six billion gallons of
water if that day would have failed, is a big difference.
And so when we got worried about that, we knew
that there was going to be a surge coming through
and so we needed to alert people to try to
get people back because of that that extra flood water
that was coming down. And then we found we heard
(34:05):
that Bee Tree may fail. Now we ended up finding
out that that was fake, that that was actually somebody
who was trying to get people to evacuate so he
could break into their houses, which there's that's absolutely horrible.
Sheriff's office did a great job in finding that person
and arresting them, and then we got word that Mission
Hospital may need to be evacuated. So we're thinking, how,
(34:27):
you know, thank god that neither dam failed, that was
both of those were blessings. But then how are we
going to evacuate Mission because they don't have power, they
don't have water, you know, and thankfully.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
The entire hospital. Yeah, thought, that makes me nervous.
Speaker 11 (34:41):
So it's like all these problems are coming in and
then I've got a you know, I had to think
about how do we stop crime from happening while all
this is going on? Because I remember back in two
thousand and four whenever we had the flooding, you know,
it was nowhere near the level that we had this time,
but I knew that there would be because we had
to prevent people from going to builtmore village back then
(35:03):
and breaking into shops, So I knew it was going
to be on a whole different level. So that's I
had to figure out a plan there, which thankfully I
was able to talk to the city.
Speaker 8 (35:12):
Manager and then the Mayor and.
Speaker 11 (35:14):
Then city illegal because we're all sitting in the same
room and say we need to.
Speaker 8 (35:18):
Do a curfew.
Speaker 11 (35:19):
And that's when we did the curfew from sundown to
sun up every day.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Y'all shut it down, though, I mean you you got
I'm still I mean, obviously you can't stop everything. Now,
you guys shut down the bed with a quickness and
let people know.
Speaker 9 (35:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
I didn't feel like there was in Sunny Stories as
yeah as I was expect because we thought, I mean,
there were a few I remember the first day we
drove here, I was like, this is going to get
really bad, Like people are going to be desperate, people
are going to be the.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Yeah, like the apocalypse.
Speaker 7 (35:46):
Yeah, I was impressed by all of the.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Kudos to you and your department for shutting that down.
Speaker 11 (35:51):
Yeah, we had. It was a lot of a lot
of good work by the officers. Like there were officers
working eighteen hour days. They some stayed at work for
days in a row, and it was everybody had this
sensub mission. And but there was also the help from
the community that we got. There was also the help
from other law enforcement agencies that came in, like that
(36:12):
night of the curfew, the first night of the curfew,
we had bars that were open downtown that were serving
drinks and we we I went by one and I
was like, there's a curfew, you all can't be here.
And people started arguing with me about well, we need
to be able to let off some steam and drink
and I'm like, no, you know, we're trying to deal
with looters. We don't need to be dealing with drunks.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
And but Eddie go home.
Speaker 12 (36:39):
H Thank god I didn't see out, but yeah, we know.
Speaker 11 (36:50):
We had help from a l e that night, so
Ali actually went out and they started helping us to
shut down the bars so that we wouldn't have to
have those issues. And then that weekend, so you know,
the storm hit Friday, well, then Saturday and Sunday we
had it. We had a homicide, domestic homicide where a
lady shot a guy in the head and killed him.
(37:12):
And then we had a stabbing the next day where
it was a kind of drug deal gone bad and
one person was stabbed and killed and then another person
was stabbed and they were hit or miss as far
as dying or not, but they ended up surviving. And
then we had somebody who tried to burn down an
apartment complex who was in a state of mental crisis,
(37:34):
and so we had all these things in addition to
trying to make sure the curfew was nobody was out
and nobody was looting, and so it was just one
thing after another for that first weekend. But then as
we started getting other law enforcement agencies to come in
and help, it really helped us out tremendously, and I
think we owe a debt, you know we. I'm so
(37:56):
glad that Brandon was able to get this truckler side
by side Drone Response team because I feel like that's
our way of paying back to entities that helped us,
and now we have a resource that we can provide
for them.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
I remember one story just this is we haven't really
talked a lot about the policing side, but when someone
was breaking was it where were they breaking into that
you use the drone that you in the side by side?
Wasn't that a way that you were able to Was
it down at the Nature Center?
Speaker 8 (38:26):
It was?
Speaker 11 (38:26):
It was up on Gashes Creek because we couldn't get
there because it was so muddy, and we were able
to get a drone deployed to get overhead and then
get I think it was if I remember quickly, I
think it was Greensboro had an ATV team that they
brought up from there and they were able to respond
to it.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
So cool, because I feel like there's a manual for
most situations y'all might get in on a day to
day basis, you know, the murder aspects, the car chases. Yeah,
and I'm sure that there are police stations that are
more on the coast or somewhere that have, you know,
hurricane kind of plans. But for I imagine a lot
of it was just kind of make it up as
you go and hope for the best.
Speaker 8 (39:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 11 (39:04):
For example, we had Walmart down on the river. A
group had broke into there to try to get to
the gun vault and start stealing like rifles and shotguns.
And thankfully a lot some of our detectives are gun
Crime Team were able to get down there and they
were like wading through knee deep mud. One of the
(39:25):
guys was like, Chief, I got a footchase today in
the mud in Walmart and caught the guy.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
In the story.
Speaker 11 (39:33):
But the thing is like they it's outside the box
and it was something new and they they loved it
being able to get out there and then problem solve.
And I think that's one thing that cops are really
great at is there's no set like problem solving, like
paradigm for every situation. It's like you're constantly trying to
(39:53):
figure out what's the best way to to try to
help this person or make this situation so.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Just like they're just like us, we have nobody over going.
Speaker 7 (40:00):
Just make it a little different.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
I think.
Speaker 7 (40:03):
The next song is a little different than Chaser Walmart.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
But what would you do different? Looking back? Is there
one thing that stands out to you that if you had,
you know, the knowledge, now, what would you do different?
Had to pick one thing?
Speaker 11 (40:16):
Oh gosh, probably tell people to go home quicker. We
we had the folks wanted to be there, but there
was a lot of burnout that that went with that.
Speaker 12 (40:31):
You know.
Speaker 11 (40:31):
Thank god Brandon was able to get out of town,
get away, you go down to Columbia. I think it
was after the third week. I was able to get
down to Charleston and see my family. So that was
that was that was good, Uh, just to be able
to get down there and and and you know, and
it's funny, I remember our our hot water heater down
(40:53):
there went out and stopped working two days before I
was supposed to be down there, and I called somebody
down there and said, you're going to get to my
house and fix the hot water heater because I have
not had a shower like a hot shell you can
stand a few minutes yet, because at that time we
were just taking like gallons of water and pouring it
(41:15):
over our head to try to try to get any
kind of shower. But and you know, really, I think
focusing on people's ability to take care of themselves. Like
I remember one of the guys was telling me that
was down doing body recoveries on the river. So they're
down there drones or flying into different like abandoned cars
(41:37):
to see if there's any bodies in there, and they'd
recovered a couple of different people they found deceased on
the river. And as they're walking in the mud and
looking for dead bodies, they see this tree crew that's
up there and they're cutting up trees that are blocking
the road, and one of the guys walks up to him.
It's like, hey, do you do you mind if we
(41:57):
just help you cut trees for a little bit, and
They're like, oh, yeah, sure, here you go. And so
that team for just like fifteen twenty minutes just did
nothing but saw logs. So it was something that was work,
but it was something different to take their mind off
of the you know.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
The heart the task that they were doing. Yeah, well,
have you had a chance to really kind of peel
back the layers and then you know, think about it
and then kind of deal with what you went through.
I mean, are you still dealing with No.
Speaker 11 (42:29):
Of course, Gosh, I've been doing therapy for years now,
you know. I had my shooting back in twenty eighteen
and then started doing therapy after that. I did prolonged
exposure therapy right after my shooting, where I just all
I did was talk about my shooting over and over
and over again. And I tell the officers that I'm like, hey,
I've done therapy since twenty eighteen. It's something that is
(42:52):
extremely helpful and something that is it makes you more resilient,
it makes you better able to handle a variety of
situations and be able to cope with those in a
positive way. And one thing that's been really helpful it's
doing stuff like this, you know, being able to talk
about the experiences from Helene in different avenues, and I
(43:16):
think the more you talk about something, the more that
you're able to process it a healthy way.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Chief, thank you for your time. We appreciate all that
you do this already.
Speaker 12 (43:24):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (43:25):
We know that you're retiring, and we want to thank
you for everything you've done. I know everybody's gonna miss you.
I've never heard one bad thing said about you, so
thank you for everything you've always done.
Speaker 8 (43:35):
Well.
Speaker 11 (43:35):
Thank you so much. Yeah, it's a it's bittersweet for sure.
I love the agency, I love our community. I love
the men and women of the Ashville Police Department. So
I'm gonna enjoy spending more time with my family, but
I'm also gonna miss it.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
I feel like there, I feel like you're gonna still
be there in something like I feel like he's just
gonna pop into meetings here and there, bring lunch, but
just try to see what's still going on.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Well, sir, welcome here. I appreciate that we we had
a going away cake for you, but mandate.
Speaker 8 (44:05):
It so I'm gonna get one of them.
Speaker 12 (44:07):
LEAs is over here.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
On me, okay, jeef, thank.
Speaker 8 (44:13):
You sirs, My pleasure.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
Definitely, thank y'all for listening to Stories after the Storm.
One year later, we're still learning, we're still rebuilding, and
still standing strong together.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
As we move forward, we do it as neighbors, as family,
and as Western North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
One year after Helen, the voices of Western North Carolina
share their stories. This is Stories After the Storm with
Eddie Fox and Amanda Fox
Popular Podcasts
Spooky Podcasts from iHeartRadio
Whether you’re a scaredy-cat or a brave bat, this collection of episodes from iHeartPodcasts will put you in the Halloween spirit. Binge stories, frights, and more that may keep you up at night!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.