First responders with the Red Oak Community Rural Fire Department returned to Greenville on Saturday after six days of relief work in Western North Carolina.
Four volunteers worked around the clock and responded to 30 emergency medical and fire calls, conducted over 200 welfare checks and delivered supplies to Helene victims.
Danny Coward, the Red Oak Fire Chief recounts what he witnessed while assisting those impacted by the storm.
“Sad, sad, very very sad, I can’t express how much devastation I have seen up in the mountains,” he said. “We saw a lot of landslides, houses had come down the mountain. We saw a lot of roads had been washed away, trees had just come down the mountain and blocking lots of places.”
Chief Coward and three other volunteers were stationed at Little River Fire Department in Transylvania County.
Coward said that crew rescued an 11-year-old boy who was trapped in a home that slid down the mountain, a day prior to their arrival.