What have been the worst wildfires in our state’s history? Either in recent decades or way back when? Below is a “worst one” from 1985. 

Let’s look back at another series of huge wildfires in western North Carolina. From the Raleigh Times on April 5, 1984, found while doing some local fire department research. List format, of course:

• April 1985
• Uncontrolled fires burning in Burke, Caldwell, Polk, and Wilkes counties.
• Contained fires burning in Buncombe, McDowell, and Stokes counties.
• As many as 8,000 “tinder-dry” acres burned.
• As many as 44 homes destroyed.
• Thousand evacuated.
• Fought by 1,500 forest service members, 429 National Guardsmen, 400 emergency services personnel, and various other state/local officials.
• Relief en route from National Guard, 36 firefighters from Guilford County, 300 firefighters from Texas and Mississippi.
• Red Cross relief centers established.
• Managed from Raleigh, at the state Emergency Operations Center, where 30 men and women coordinate emergency efforts:  employees from various state division, plus Highway Patrol, National Guard, Red Cross, and amateur radio operators.

Smoke seen from Interstate 40 in Burke County. Courtesy News-Herald, from this April 2015 retrospective

Mineral Springs Mountain near Valdese

• Worst of the fires
• Nine firemen overcome by smoke.
• Several residents also treated for minor smoke inhalation. Two treated for minor heart attacks.
• Burned as many 20 houses and mobile homes.
• Some 100 homes on the mountain threatened by flames.
• “It’s run through poor neighborhoods and it’s run through nice neighborhoods” said Valdese Fire Chief Sherrill Brittain.
• Six homes burned on outskirts of town.
• Some parts of town, and nearby Rutherford College were evacuated.
• “The wind’s been blowing 50 mph all day and it’s dry” said one resident. “I’m watering the grass down around my house and then I’m getting out of here.”
• Shelters for evacuated residents at schools, churches, and National Guard armories.

Notes: Also/later called the High Peak fire. Notes this News Herald story from April 2015, it burned 4,770 acres, destroyed 27 homes, and cost more than $3M to extinguish. Cause later determined as local man burning garbage in cleared garden area. 

Rutherfordton

• Six houses and two businesses destroyed in downtown Rutherfordton.
• Some 75 families evacuated.
• Air National Guardsmen brought blaze under control with shovels and rakes.
• Flames reached within two blocks of the courthouse.

Buncombe County

• 75 acres burned.
• Fire contained.

Burke County

• Interstate 40 and Highway 18 closed for several hours on Thursday, April 4.
• Fire “closed in” on both sides of the roadways.
• “There’s nothing but anxious people in this county right now” said Beth Henderson of Burke County EM.
• County declared state of emergency on April 4, after 400 people were evacuated in the southeast corner of Valdese.
• See Mineral Springs Mountain above.

Caldwell County

• 1,500 acres have burned, mostly US Forest land.
• On Thursday, residents were “rushed from their homes” as fire “raced over more than 1,000 acres of woodland.”
• At least nine homes destroyed.
• “It’s a total madhouse here” said a fire department dispatcher.

McDowell County

• More than 1,000 acres burned in western McDowell County.
• Three houses and one mobile home gutted.
• Threatened Crooked Creek community of about 300 residences.
• Some 25 families were evacuated.
• “We’re calling it 80 percent contained at this time but we’re staying out there overnight just in case” said firefighter Charles Presnell.

Rutherford County

• Ten acres burned.
• Ten homes burned.
• See Rutherfordton above.

Stokes County

• 800 acres burned.
• Fire contained.

Wilkes County

• 200 acres burned.
• Fire contained.

Then What Happened?

See this News Herald story from April 2015, remembering the High Peak Fire in Burke County, one of the blazes noted above.

The fire resulted in the development of a program utilizing inmates as firefighting resources. Notes the introduction to this legislative report on the Young Offenders Forest Conservation Program (PDF):

On April 4, 1985, within a one-hour period, three large wildfires broke out in the foothills and mountains of Western North Carolina. These fires, along with numerous smaller fires, destroyed thousands of acres of woodland and more than forty homes and outbuildings. The High Peak Fire destroyed 27 structures and 5,000 acres of woodland in Burke County alone. Resources were stretched to their breaking point and often unavailable.

Following the devastating 1985 fire season, the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources began exploring ways to supplement their wildland firefighting capabilities. After visiting an inmate program in Washington, and researching programs in California and Utah, the Division of Forest Resources, in conjunction with the North Carolina Division of Prisons, developed the concept of the BRIDGE Program. The concept focused on the training of inmate crews to be used and readily available when needed to suppress wildfires. 

On July 28, 1965, the Steer Steak House at 1625 Louisburg Road burned. Or as the road was later named, North Boulevard, and even later named, Capital Boulevard. Fire was reported at 3:55 a.m. by a passing motorist. Crews battled the blaze in a heavy rainstorm.

The one-story structure (plus basement) suffered extensive damage and a loss of $136,416. The run card was Engine 7, 3, 4, Truck 7 (service), Truck 1, Rescue 1, and a foam unit. Plus Truck 5 moved to Station 1, for coverage. Engine 7 returned the next day, to wet down the debris.

This photo appeared in the July 28 issue of the Raleigh Times. Click to enlarge:

Courtesy Raleigh News & Observer

The restaurant was originally operated as Johnny’s Supper Club, from 1948 to 1958. It was one of three businesses operated by John “Johnny” Griffin, who also operating Johnny’s Drive-In Grill next door. And Johnny’s Motor Lodge, which he built behind the grill, by 1959.

He sold the supper club in 1960, and the new owner named it the Black Steer Steakhouse (or Black Steer Supper Club, depending on source). And was presently operating as the Steer Steak House. It had two dining room wings extending from the main portion of the building, and cost $135,000 when built in 1948.

Goodnight Raleigh has a great article about these properties.

The Motor Lodge Today – The Capital Inn

By 1994, the motel was named the Capital Inn. The original owner(s) sold the site in 1985. Tax records list the old name in 1991, but it was probably renamed at the time of the sale. (The old drive-in has stayed open, most lately as the Zanziba Club.)

There have also been fires at the motel over the years. Two alarms on May 28, 1994. Two alarms that gutted three rooms and damaged others on October 20, 2004. Plus smaller and less-serious fires.

There’s also been flooding at the site. Crabtree Creek passes the property, and has been over-spilling its banks for decades. The Capital Inn, the nearby Milner Inn, and the infamous Foxy Lady “adult entertainment establishment” were often impacted.

On June 14, 2006,as the remnants of tropical storm Alberto passed through the city, crews from Engine 11, Engine 7, Truck 11, and Rescue 7 removed stranded residents at the Inn. That’s one memorable episode. (Yours Truly leaned into the wind, with an umbrella under his arm, and two cameras around his neck.) Click to enlarge:

Mike Legeros photos

(More recently, the site flooded on August 12, 2014. That was a night rescue, inclu and Yours Truly was again on scene. See those shots.)

Buying Land, Bulldozing Buildings

Finally, we reach 2016. Let’s let our friends at the Raleigh Public Record pick up the story [link expired:http://raleighpublicrecord.org/news/development-beat/2016/11/08/development-beat-teardown-tuesday-31/], with both their own historical recap, and details on the coming demolition of the Capital Inn.

As they note, the city’s been working for years to acquire these flood-prone properties. They purchased the Milner Inn and Foxy Lady in 2014, and it was demolished in 2015. The Dunkin’ Donuts shop closed about the same, though it’s still standing (for now).

They’re planning improvements to both mitigate the flooding, and add a greenspace that will connect with parts of the city’s greenway trail system. And, at long last, add some visual appeal to our otherwise ugly capital corridor. (Sorry, truth hurts.)

The Capital Inn and the Zanziba Club closed earlier this year. The restaurant building was demolished a week ago, or so. The hotel will be razed any day now.

Yours Truly explored the property in September, while the fire department was conducting ladder drills. The abandoned buildings were also used by the police department for training.

See this Flickr album of photos, from inside and outside the structures. Or click to enlarge:

Mike Legeros photos