Episode 10
Where was God in Hurricane Helene? Stories from the Rutherford County Airport.
Host Mikel Collins and guest Devon Raisch, the Rutherford County Airport's Director of Operations, recount the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in 2024 and the subsequent relief efforts. Devon shares firsthand experiences of managing the airport during the disaster, including the chaos of fuel shortages, emergency rescues, and unexpected visitors. He highlights the community's incredible response, with civilians and officials coming together to provide aid. Pastor J.R. Blanton also addresses the profound question of where God was during the hurricane, concluding that God's presence was felt through the actions of those helping in the aftermath. The episode emphasizes focusing on immediate needs and the importance of community support during crises.
00:00 Introduction to Small Town, Big God
01:16 Devon Raisch: First-Hand Account of Hurricane Helene
02:03 Preparing for the Hurricane
03:27 Fuel Supply Challenges
04:32 Navigating the Chaos
07:12 The Aftermath and Immediate Response
13:15 Dealing with Unexpected Visitors
19:36 Community Support and Assistance
22:45 Community Response to Hurricane Helene
23:26 The Role of Civilians and Government in Rescue Efforts
24:09 Hot Refueling: A Life-Saving Procedure
26:25 Transition to Supply Distribution
31:12 The Plane Fire Incident
33:10 Clearing Up FEMA's Role
37:05 Faith and Adversity: Where Was God?
44:12 Gratitude and Community Support
48:32 Final Thoughts and Encouragement
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Transcript
Welcome to Small Town, Big God.
Speaker:My name is Michael Collins, and I'm here again to bring you a
Speaker:story showing how God is at work in Rutherford County, North Carolina.
Speaker:On September 27th, 2024, our county was hit by Hurricane Helene, which caused
Speaker:unprecedented devastation, especially to the Lake Lure, Chimney Rock area.
Speaker:In this episode, you're going to hear about the hurricane and the days that
Speaker:followed from a man named Devon Raisch.
Speaker:I asked Devon to come on the podcast because Devon runs the Rutherford
Speaker:County Airport, which became a sort of base of operations for a lot of
Speaker:the disaster relief efforts that were taking place right after the hurricane.
Speaker:So he had a first hand account of a lot of the main events following the hurricane,
Speaker:including a fire truck that ran off the road, the emergency rescue of an 11 day
Speaker:old baby, and a disaster relief plane that came in for a landing on fire.
Speaker:So buckle up, because there's a lot in this episode, and by the end of
Speaker:it, my goal is that you will have the answer to a very difficult question
Speaker:that I think has been on people's minds since the hurricane hit, which
Speaker:is, where was God in Hurricane Helene?
Speaker:So my name is Devon rash.
Speaker:I am the airport director of operations at the Rutherford County
Speaker:Airport, and I've been there for about five and a half years now.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:And what is that role like what do you what are you responsible for then?
Speaker:My responsibilities they are very varied.
Speaker:Anything pretty much that does with the airport as far as from the
Speaker:day-to-Day operations fuel is one of the main areas that, that I deal with.
Speaker:Along with staffing and scheduling and.
Speaker:All the way down to the nuts and bolts of the workings of an airport
Speaker:and then working with the state.
Speaker:And Sometimes federal side, depending on what's going on out there.
Speaker:Before the hurricane, Devon was not expecting things
Speaker:to be as bad as they were.
Speaker:I don't think anybody was, but he knew that it could be bad, so
Speaker:he was paying extra attention to the fuel supply at the airport.
Speaker:In the days leading up to the hurricane started looking at our fuel supply
Speaker:because we always have to manage how much fuel we have on hand.
Speaker:So in our tanks, we don't have this extraordinary amount of fuel
Speaker:that we can keep at the airport.
Speaker:And so I have to always juggle how much fuel quantity we have on hand.
Speaker:And so leading up to the hurricane coming in, I realized we need to
Speaker:make sure that we have plenty of fuel for the jet helicopter traffic
Speaker:that was going to possibly be coming in because I could tell the storm
Speaker:was, potentially going to be bad.
Speaker:Couldn't tell how bad and uh,
Speaker:It's not just this
Speaker:hurricane, it's any adverse weather conditions.
Speaker:When you're dealing with something that's potentially going to make it
Speaker:so that Duke Energy is going to have helicopters on the lines flying lines to
Speaker:make sure that things are getting fixed.
Speaker:We just try to keep our fuel supply up so that we can help them.
Speaker:And it also is another factor that you have to deal with other airports that
Speaker:are asking for fuel at the same time.
Speaker:There may be a run on fuel.
Speaker:And so you're just really trying to make sure that you
Speaker:protect your fuel and get it.
Speaker:Get it up.
Speaker:So in the days leading up to the hurricane a day or two before I was working with
Speaker:our fuel supplier to be able to give us fuel and provide a fuel load for us.
Speaker:We obviously pay for it, but we have to work out to
Speaker:organize them getting it to us.
Speaker:And so that fuel supply was due to come in literally the morning the hurricane hit.
Speaker:Fuel is a big priority because without it, obviously, those
Speaker:planes are not going anywhere.
Speaker:But getting a fuel truck to the airport in the middle of a hurricane
Speaker:is a lot easier said than done.
Speaker:I got a call at about 7 45 in the morning.
Speaker:So I literally 10 minutes before that watched a tree go over in my backyard.
Speaker:That's like close to 75 foot tall.
Speaker:And then I get a phone call saying, Hey, we're on the way to give you fuel.
Speaker:Are you at the airport?
Speaker:And I'm like, no, there's a hurricane going on.
Speaker:Figured you would have canceled your trip, and so I said I'll, I'm on my way now.
Speaker:So I ended up hopping in the car that morning to head out to the airport.
Speaker:okay at the airport during the hurricane?
Speaker:I saw there was a tree that was blocking 64 where the truck would be coming
Speaker:down, even though I could get into Oscar Justice, they couldn't get down
Speaker:the
Speaker:road.
Speaker:And he wanted me to look and see if the road, that side
Speaker:road, Oscar Justice was clear.
Speaker:So I quickly ran down Oscar Justice and my truck, and turned around and came back and
Speaker:then About that time Duke power, a little truck was pulling up on the other side
Speaker:on 64 to clear that tree that was down.
Speaker:And so I looked up and saw there were a couple more trees that had
Speaker:potential and backed up a little bit.
Speaker:And as I backed up the, about three trees fell and kissed the
Speaker:front of my truck.
Speaker:So, Yeah.
Speaker:So at that point there weren't any other trees to really fall on me.
Speaker:So I had brought a chainsaw and got out and helped Duke.
Speaker:Clear one side of 64 and then I was able to call the guy and
Speaker:found out he was 12 miles away
Speaker:Yeah, so he in trying to get
Speaker:Him back down to the airport on the call right after we cleared the road He told
Speaker:me that a tree the size of a house fell in front of him And then he tried to he
Speaker:was gonna back up and he said a tree fell behind him And so He was pinned in there
Speaker:waiting to see if that would be cleared.
Speaker:And so he was two miles from 40.
Speaker:So I was
Speaker:like, man, you chose a back road to go down to bring fuel in a hurricane.
Speaker:So yeah, but poor guy.
Speaker:Great guy.
Speaker:I didn't know at the time.
Speaker:So I went ahead and headed out to the airport.
Speaker:Thankfully I had my little chainsaw.
Speaker:I had to cut my way to the airport or probably close to six trees, little
Speaker:pine trees that had fallen in the road.
Speaker:So kept having to clear half the road, finally got out to the airport and So
Speaker:there was a line over the road as I was driving up airport road, a power line.
Speaker:And then as I got inside the terminal, there was actually water
Speaker:coming in because of the Eve.
Speaker:There's like that at the pinnacle of your roof, there's that little vent.
Speaker:And the rain was blowing sideways so much that it was coming in
Speaker:the
Speaker:vent.
Speaker:And so I was having, Water issues there and was waiting to see
Speaker:if he would be able to make it.
Speaker:And about 11 o'clock I realized he's probably not
Speaker:going to
Speaker:make it.
Speaker:And he was there eight hours
Speaker:that day
Speaker:waiting to get out of there
Speaker:The fuel truck never made it to the airport that day.
Speaker:After eight hours of being stranded between two trees on some back road
Speaker:two miles from I 40, the driver had to turn around and head back home.
Speaker:And while the driver was waiting for someone to clear the road,
Speaker:Devon had to go back out in the chaos that was taking place.
Speaker:. For me, about 11 o'clock, I realized, power's out.
Speaker:My house, I've got three refrigerators and a house full of people,
Speaker:including my sister and her family.
Speaker:And so there was about 14 of them there at the time from the night before,
Speaker:Realizing
Speaker:they're in the woods and it's just be safer for them to be where we
Speaker:were so I was trying to get home.
Speaker:It took me literally three hours to get home, which was a 10 minute drive.
Speaker:Trying to cut through trees going around down power lines.
Speaker:I couldn't get through.
Speaker:There was literally a truck, a fire truck that had gone
Speaker:off the road and flipped down
Speaker:into a ditch.
Speaker:And that was one of the main reasons
Speaker:I
Speaker:couldn't
Speaker:get through.
Speaker:So that was on Oscar
Speaker:justice.
Speaker:It had hacked.
Speaker:Actually picked up a line that was hanging across the road really low.
Speaker:They didn't see and the, it jerked the front wheel and then the top
Speaker:line picked up the top of the truck and literally flipped it into
Speaker:the ditch,
Speaker:but I wasn't there when it happened, but the guy, the passenger is
Speaker:one of our grounds guys out there while the main ground
Speaker:guy that takes care of Our property there.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So he's safe.
Speaker:Both of them are safe, it did hurt his shoulder, but yeah, it was like a 20,
Speaker:30 foot ravine they went down into.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:If you were out driving around on the day of the hurricane, you
Speaker:probably experienced some of the same things that Devin has shared.
Speaker:It was a very chaotic time for small town friendly.
Speaker:I live in the middle of town and it was chaotic just trying to go check on
Speaker:family members who live a mile away,
Speaker:but instead of being overwhelmed by all the problems and trying to find
Speaker:a solution to everything at once, Devin had the wisdom to just focus
Speaker:on what was right in front of him.
Speaker:Everything kind of gets fuzzy for me.
Speaker:There's a lot happening.
Speaker:My parents were pinned into with trees and they had to go out the back
Speaker:end of their property to meet, it'll meet up with somebody who had a car.
Speaker:But so I was able to go over and help get them cut out to, there was
Speaker:several guys with chainsaws that actually worked at that juncture.
Speaker:My chainsaw finally decided to
Speaker:And it, it worked randomly, but I was finally able to get it going
Speaker:and help get them cut to where they could get out to the main road and
Speaker:then go back and check on my family.
Speaker:And I did eventually get back out to the airport that day to later
Speaker:on, but that's much later on it.
Speaker:So yeah, it
Speaker:was quite a day.
Speaker:My guy one of my guys came out and manned the airport for a while that
Speaker:day.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean for me it was just dealing with the next
Speaker:foresight into
Speaker:the
Speaker:future at all, it's just like right now we're just you could see the devastation
Speaker:and then literally people stuck on the other side of trees that couldn't get
Speaker:out and then people down in the ditches that tried to go around and it's just
Speaker:literally just a mess and finally
Speaker:was able to figure out a way back to my house, but
Speaker:I really literally later on that evening is when I was laying in bed.
Speaker:And I realized that, there's no power, nobody can call for fuel at the
Speaker:airport if somebody needs anything.
Speaker:And if a helicopter comes in for med, med flight or a search and rescue or
Speaker:whatever it may be, there's nobody there to give them fuel because our self serve
Speaker:unit is no longer working, no power.
Speaker:I can fuel with the truck because obviously it's independent of everything.
Speaker:At that point I realized I need to go back to the airport and
Speaker:it was like, I guess maybe nine
Speaker:o'clock,
Speaker:Okay 9 30 the night of the
Speaker:the night after, yeah, the hurricane came through.
Speaker:Nobody expected a storm like this to hit western North Carolina,
Speaker:which means nobody was prepared for the damage that it caused.
Speaker:Obviously, that is mainly evident in the mountains, where homes at 2, 000 feet
Speaker:of elevation were hit by flash floods.
Speaker:But it also showed up in more subtle ways, like when we all lost cell phone coverage.
Speaker:Our cell phones, I mean everybody experienced it is the crazy of all
Speaker:of a sudden you lost coverage like
Speaker:at six o'clock or whenever it was.
Speaker:And like for the next, it seemed like 30, 40 hours we had no cell coverage.
Speaker:And I think the primary reason for that was they undersized the
Speaker:generator fuel capacity on the cell
Speaker:towers.
Speaker:And so they probably ran out of fuel and the self towers went
Speaker:out.
Speaker:I don't think it was any conspiracy.
Speaker:It was just.
Speaker:lack of realizing some horrific event was going to take place.
Speaker:We were not prepared for a storm of this, the
Speaker:magnitude, absolutely.
Speaker:Cell service is not an issue compared to the homes and businesses
Speaker:and lives lost in the floods.
Speaker:But in a disaster like this, when people are trying to check on their loved ones
Speaker:and no one yet knows the full story of what's going on or how bad the damage is,
Speaker:the little things like that can multiply or magnify the chaos and the fear.
Speaker:But the best way for us to deal with this kind of chaos in our community
Speaker:is to do exactly what Devin did.
Speaker:Which is to focus on the problems and responsibilities right in front of you
Speaker:the things that are within your control.
Speaker:Devin went home and made sure his family was taken care of.
Speaker:Then went to the airport where his knowledge and expertise
Speaker:could be best put to use.
Speaker:But that first night at the airport was anything but relaxing.
Speaker:And Devin had a few unexpected visitors.
Speaker:Really
Speaker:was just kind of
Speaker:settling in
Speaker:for
Speaker:the night
Speaker:because I knew it was going to be a long night.
Speaker:I was already prepared.
Speaker:Like I, all I needed to do is grab the keys and a book and go out and fuel if
Speaker:somebody came,
Speaker:And it's
Speaker:a big F,
Speaker:you know, You just don't know,
Speaker:but you gotta, it was a safety factor.
Speaker:And I just felt like, there's a great responsibility that Assume when
Speaker:you take a position like mine and it wasn't something I planned for.
Speaker:It was just something that, I realized in my mind that, it's
Speaker:pretty critical that, fuel gets into these helicopters if there's
Speaker:needed for life flight or whatever.
Speaker:So, while I was out there, there was it was getting pretty dark and then
Speaker:I'm saying it was probably maybe 10, 11 o'clock, probably 10 o'clock at night.
Speaker:And I look outside and there's this car that comes running down
Speaker:the fence line on the outside of
Speaker:the
Speaker:fence
Speaker:at night.
Speaker:And so I'm like, somebody is trying
Speaker:to
Speaker:get in
Speaker:to
Speaker:get the fuel.
Speaker:And our power generation for the airport.
Speaker:, we got a generator that just gives generation for our airfield lighting.
Speaker:So it doesn't power the airport terminal or the fuel farm,
Speaker:but the lights are on, right?
Speaker:, and here's this.
Speaker:Rotating beacon telling everybody we have power,
Speaker:but so it was just really odd and, they can race it down the side and
Speaker:running up this bank on the other side, trying to get around the fence,
Speaker:hopping through the tall weeds.
Speaker:I was literally waiting to see them disappear.
Speaker:because there's
Speaker:a
Speaker:culvert
Speaker:there
Speaker:with about an eight foot drop.
Speaker:no.
Speaker:And so I was calling a 911 and I finally got through and I
Speaker:was like, this is the airport.
Speaker:And they were like, what County are you in?
Speaker:And I'm like, Oh my goodness, they are, this isn't our County.
Speaker:Like it was Harnett County was taking our 911 calls because
Speaker:of all the phone system issues.
Speaker:And so I like had to slow myself down.
Speaker:I said, I'm in Rutherford County.
Speaker:I'm at the airport.
Speaker:I manage the field and then explain there.
Speaker:Somebody looks like they're trying to
Speaker:get
Speaker:into the property.
Speaker:So anyway, crazy.
Speaker:And so, finally I get off the phone with them.
Speaker:They're like we're going to get somebody out there.
Speaker:Literally before that happened, five minutes before the guy drove down
Speaker:the grass on the backside of the property, right below where my window
Speaker:is.
Speaker:I had to state highway patrol.
Speaker:Come out and they were asking if I was going to be there all
Speaker:night because their helicopter
Speaker:guys wanted
Speaker:to
Speaker:know
Speaker:For sure that I was going to be there and I said yes I'll be here all night And they
Speaker:left and five minutes later this happened.
Speaker:So i'm like,
Speaker:can you please
Speaker:just
Speaker:get
Speaker:the state highway
Speaker:patrol back out here?
Speaker:They're close.
Speaker:they're close.
Speaker:And so then I called our airport authority chairman and and
Speaker:asked him if he could try to get
Speaker:some
Speaker:help out there for
Speaker:me.
Speaker:Cause I don't know who this guy is.
Speaker:By this time he had drove back down the fence line and drove up the
Speaker:field and was running across the
Speaker:upper
Speaker:ramp
Speaker:area
Speaker:Going, he was in the car going up there.
Speaker:And then he got out and was running across, like jogging across the ramp area.
Speaker:And so I was like,
Speaker:who is this
Speaker:person?
Speaker:And I didn't know if there was more people in the car either.
Speaker:So anyway, emergency service management calls back.
Speaker:And it was like, I said, this is the airport.
Speaker:And they're like, Devon.
Speaker:It's all right.
Speaker:As I said, we got some folks coming like five minutes later, there were five
Speaker:sheriff's cars
Speaker:up there, like lights on, cornered the guy.
Speaker:And they're like, Hey, he says he's a tenant out here at the airport
Speaker:and his hangers over there and we're just going to let him go.
Speaker:I hear that over the radio.
Speaker:I was, I'm talking to one of the, one of the guys out there that, I had come
Speaker:and I was like, hold on a second, let me look at his face and see if it's actually
Speaker:somebody that, or if they're, I didn't want to have to deal with them again.
Speaker:And so I got over there and I was walking, I was like, I don't know
Speaker:the car, I don't know the guy.
Speaker:And as I walk up on him, it's It was like Pete, he's a firefighter out
Speaker:of
Speaker:New Jersey, just got off a shift and he had a car in his hangar he was
Speaker:trying to get to because he lives
Speaker:up in
Speaker:Asheville and he was trying to get back to his family and his car he
Speaker:was trying to get a bigger car with four wheel drive and all this stuff
Speaker:shoved in there with Generators and everything else and
Speaker:he was getting he didn't
Speaker:think
Speaker:anybody
Speaker:was
Speaker:at
Speaker:the
Speaker:airport
Speaker:So he was freaking out that he couldn't get through the
Speaker:gate and I was like, I know
Speaker:him
Speaker:It's all right.
Speaker:You can let him go.
Speaker:So Anyway,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:After that it me up, but my parents, I like had randomly actually I say randomly,
Speaker:but it was a God thing had showed up right as I was walking back from talking to him.
Speaker:And I was like, who told you that something was going on out here?
Speaker:It was dark.
Speaker:We thought you could use some, company, I was like I could thank you.
Speaker:Thanks for coming.
Speaker:And then later that night I was sleeping on the couch.
Speaker:And I
Speaker:like
Speaker:groggily woke up.
Speaker:And it's ominous.
Speaker:Like at that point the lights had gone out on the runway side.
Speaker:So the only light that was shining was the airport beacon going around.
Speaker:So it was ominous.
Speaker:And you got green, then you got white, then you got green.
Speaker:I look outside and it's kind of a little
Speaker:foggy.
Speaker:And
Speaker:I see, I like.
Speaker:There's a car sitting out there that, and I was like, was it sitting there before?
Speaker:And then finally I was thinking back and I was like I was standing right
Speaker:in that spot talking to somebody and I was like, no, it's, somebody's out
Speaker:here.
Speaker:And I looked up on, on the ramp side and saw somebody with
Speaker:a flashlight walking around.
Speaker:So I was like they're up there.
Speaker:And I think I know who's a car
Speaker:is,
Speaker:but
Speaker:I need
Speaker:to make sure.
Speaker:So
Speaker:I got out the door and realized, yeah, it's one of the guys that.
Speaker:actually works in a maintenance shop.
Speaker:And so I was able to get
Speaker:out
Speaker:to him
Speaker:very carefully, turn the lights back on so he'd know that somebody was there.
Speaker:And yeah, so just stuff like that.
Speaker:It was just like, man, being out here at dark, and you already, there's,
Speaker:yeah, a lot of people are needing.
Speaker:Needing stuff and there's a lot of people that are also out, that are
Speaker:not out for anything good too that you
Speaker:of watch out
Speaker:for.
Speaker:A stranger walking around at night is never a comforting sight, but it
Speaker:is especially concerning in the wake of a natural disaster, because people
Speaker:are not exactly at their calmest and most rational state of mind.
Speaker:But Devin made it through that night with the help of emergency
Speaker:services and his family, and the next day, things really got going.
Speaker:Things really started picking up the day after the
Speaker:storm
Speaker:had
Speaker:occurred.
Speaker:Because I think people were getting their bearings and there
Speaker:was no cell phone coverage for
Speaker:that
Speaker:period of
Speaker:time.
Speaker:And so people started pouring in little by little and then it got, you know, kind of
Speaker:saw that it was going to get pretty busy.
Speaker:So I guess I, I reckon it to see an avalanche coming.
Speaker:And so I knew that it was gonna, if I didn't stay ahead of it,
Speaker:it
Speaker:would cover me up.
Speaker:And so at that point I, I had checked my email and the only email that I
Speaker:actually read for quite a while was the email from the North Carolina
Speaker:Division of Aviation, our rep.
Speaker:for that area had said, if you need anything, please reach out to us.
Speaker:And so found his cell phone number or phone number in the
Speaker:message and gave him a call.
Speaker:And I said, and there's a couple of things we need.
Speaker:One is a generator because I can't get fuel until we get power on
Speaker:our system
Speaker:because they won't offload it.
Speaker:They won't load it over the top.
Speaker:They have to have the system working to safely pump it.
Speaker:And I said, the other thing I need is people manpower, but people that know what
Speaker:they're doing.
Speaker:I need qualified individuals to be able to come out here and help.
Speaker:Because it just, I knew that
Speaker:we were going to need a lot
Speaker:of
Speaker:hands
Speaker:on deck,
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So they started working on getting help in there by reaching out
Speaker:to other airports in the state.
Speaker:And quite a few airports had wrote back and said that they'd be willing
Speaker:to send refuelers, like people that were line staff that could help.
Speaker:And then we had several people that were airport directors that
Speaker:were willing to come as well.
Speaker:The first one to arrive there was Actually the first person
Speaker:I had come was my fuel rep.
Speaker:I ended up calling him out of Hendersonville the day after the storm.
Speaker:And he had a tree actually had fallen into his house.
Speaker:And he ended up coming down that day and fueled all day long.
Speaker:And then had to leave at five to go back to meet the
Speaker:adjuster,
Speaker:At his house.
Speaker:So he was It was awesome to have him there and then another gentleman
Speaker:named Greg Frank from Harnett County.
Speaker:He was airport director there had come to, to start helping me.
Speaker:So
Speaker:this is where the fog is I can't like the days start to, mix together.
Speaker:Being at the airport I think I went seven days with about 10 hours
Speaker:of
Speaker:sleep.
Speaker:Oh
Speaker:man.
Speaker:I think there was there was another Marcus Came from, he's a director at
Speaker:another airport in the state, Norenberg Maxson, and he sent one of his guys
Speaker:later to come to, I think the next day he sent a guy and then we had a
Speaker:couple of guys from Moore County over in Pinehurst come out and then a couple
Speaker:of guys from Concord Padgett airport, and then a guy all the way actually
Speaker:from Chattanooga at Wilson over there.
Speaker:Came from Tennessee to
Speaker:come help.
Speaker:probably leaving
Speaker:people
Speaker:out,
Speaker:but
Speaker:there's just so many people really
Speaker:poured in on my side.
Speaker:Not to
Speaker:mention all the other,
Speaker:Things
Speaker:hmm.
Speaker:Devin has more to say about this later, but The way that people came
Speaker:together to help out in the wake of Helene was really incredible.
Speaker:The story would be very different if people had not been willing to leave
Speaker:their normal lives and come to Small Town Friendly to serve those in need.
Speaker:Some of the most amazing stories, to me, civilians who came of their own
Speaker:accord with their own aircraft and their own funding to perform search and
Speaker:rescue or to deliver supplies to those stranded higher up in the mountains.
Speaker:You guys are doing a lot of refueling.
Speaker:Who
Speaker:you
Speaker:Is this,
Speaker:are these civilians with helicopters trying to help, or is this
Speaker:government?
Speaker:Yeah really a variety.
Speaker:I would say, a good mixture at the beginning of both civilian and government.
Speaker:As time went on we fueled a lot of Blackhawks.
Speaker:I think one day we fueled 12 Blackhawks and four Chinooks and
Speaker:and then a myriad of other kind of helicopters too, some military and
Speaker:then a good bit civilian as well.
Speaker:So there was a lot of folks out there that were utilizing the airfield
Speaker:for search and rescue and then eventually for recovery and just.
Speaker:the efforts to get supplies around to, for the military as well.
Speaker:We're using airfield to refuel to get from
Speaker:A to
Speaker:B.
Speaker:So we had a lot of refuelings.
Speaker:A lot.
Speaker:One of the many refuelings that Devin did after the hurricane helped save
Speaker:the life of an 11 day old infant.
Speaker:You may have heard about this already, because several news channels picked up
Speaker:the story, but a few guys from the non profit Aerial Recovery called the airport,
Speaker:saying that they needed a hot refuel.
Speaker:Now, hot refuel is the process of refueling a helicopter while the
Speaker:engines are still running, and it's not something Devin does just
Speaker:because somebody asked him to.
Speaker:Because it's not a safe procedure.
Speaker:But when the guys from Aerial Recovery called and explained that
Speaker:they needed fuel immediately if they were going to make it to this
Speaker:child in time, Devin made it happen.
Speaker:Hot refueling is not something that is, is a safe procedure, so to speak.
Speaker:I've done it a lot in the past.
Speaker:I worked for a private company FBO, and I've done a lot of different things in
Speaker:aviation over the years, and so it wasn't something I was completely uncomfortable
Speaker:with as far as the procedures of it.
Speaker:But yeah, so hot refueling is is something you want to make sure that it's something
Speaker:life
Speaker:or
Speaker:death
Speaker:before
Speaker:you
Speaker:just go out and
Speaker:do it all,
Speaker:For just anybody.
Speaker:I
Speaker:just asked, what's
Speaker:the situation,
Speaker:Because everybody, there's a lot of stuff happening at that juncture.
Speaker:And so when I realized it was, critical, I, that's when I made
Speaker:sure I got over there quickly and
Speaker:got
Speaker:them
Speaker:taken
Speaker:care of so they could get out and help.
Speaker:The, there's safety aspects there that you want to have in place.
Speaker:Eventually we ended up with an ARF team from Over in Charlotte, that
Speaker:was air guard fire rescue service.
Speaker:And so we had two trucks eventually out at the airport for fire safety.
Speaker:And then on the other side of that, a lot of military helicopters they
Speaker:just don't the larger ones, if they shut them down It's called a, a hot
Speaker:start or not a hot start, excuse me.
Speaker:It's a cycle and so there's only so many cycles they have before
Speaker:they have
Speaker:to
Speaker:do maintenance.
Speaker:And then also some of those helicopters don't crank
Speaker:back up
Speaker:really great.
Speaker:And so sometimes with the military, I
Speaker:will
Speaker:hand
Speaker:them
Speaker:the
Speaker:hose
Speaker:for them to do
Speaker:it.
Speaker:If they need to but that just depends.
Speaker:I'm very cautious,
Speaker:While the first few days were focused more on search and rescue, it wasn't
Speaker:long before things started to switch over into supply distribution.
Speaker:I think it was Sunday was when Things started to shift for supplies.
Speaker:And I think it was the night before, I just can't remember.
Speaker:Like I said, it's a little foggy, received a phone call.
Speaker:I think it was Kim Freeman with Habitat had called and said that they had a
Speaker:couple of aircraft that were wanting to come in and deliver some supplies.
Speaker:And so I, my, philosophy is I'm a conduit, right?
Speaker:I can let stuff flow through me, but I can't manage everything.
Speaker:And I'm okay doing what I know how to do, which is keeping fuel in the tanks
Speaker:and keeping up with, the trucks that come through to do that and fueling aircraft
Speaker:and then managing the airfield side with, if people come in just dealing with,
Speaker:making sure the airfield side is safe.
Speaker:But I didn't, I I couldn't take on doing relief work, and so I told
Speaker:Kim, I said, I am okay with you having supplies come in, but that's
Speaker:not something is in my wheelhouse.
Speaker:And so if you want to take the bull by the horns and you want to, wrestle
Speaker:that thing into making it work for you.
Speaker:That's fine.
Speaker:But I can't do the release that I can keep the aircraft safe
Speaker:and keep the people coming out to the aircraft safe, but I can't,
Speaker:I
Speaker:can't
Speaker:do both.
Speaker:Devin makes a good point here, and I think it's worth hearing again.
Speaker:So let me replay it for you.
Speaker:my, philosophy is I'm a conduit, right?
Speaker:I can let stuff flow through me, but I can't manage everything.
Speaker:And I'm okay doing what I know how to do
Speaker:I know for me, when I'm faced with a big problem, when I see my community
Speaker:hurting, my gut reaction is to try and figure out a solution to everything
Speaker:and help everybody at the same time.
Speaker:That just isn't possible.
Speaker:I don't have the skills or the resources to help everyone, no
Speaker:matter how badly I might want to.
Speaker:Devin had his responsibilities at the airport, and he knew that if he
Speaker:tried to also be the one to organize relief efforts, those helicopters
Speaker:would not be getting the fuel as quickly or efficiently as they should.
Speaker:The way a community comes through something like this is by everyone
Speaker:focusing on what they can do, and doing that to the best of their ability.
Speaker:You might not be able to work a chainsaw, but maybe you can bring
Speaker:lunch to the people who are.
Speaker:But if we all try to do everything, nothing is ever gonna get completed.
Speaker:Habitat did an awesome job.
Speaker:They just stepped up to the plate.
Speaker:It really, and what they're designed to do, they aren't really.
Speaker:A relief organization for gathering supplies and delivering supplies.
Speaker:They really are like build a
Speaker:house
Speaker:for
Speaker:people type
Speaker:of
Speaker:thing,
Speaker:And then the resale store I think is what most of those folks were a part of.
Speaker:And so they had some trucks, they had some staff, and they worked
Speaker:and they worked really hard.
Speaker:Really hard to get everything.
Speaker:I mean from the morning to the evening and by the time she was done they
Speaker:had 32 pages of legal notepads with volunteers that had Will been willing or
Speaker:had
Speaker:already
Speaker:come
Speaker:out
Speaker:Wow I remember the facebook post going out about asking saying they
Speaker:desperately needed volunteers at the airport and then Maybe two hours later.
Speaker:They're like we don't need
Speaker:volunteers.
Speaker:Yeah, she had so many people just poured out and helped and, it was very
Speaker:touching, to see the love, not only from the aviation side, seeing all
Speaker:the aircraft because you know, when people pull in, that's their fuel.
Speaker:That's their airplane.
Speaker:That's their money that they're pouring out.
Speaker:And then you see all the stuff that pours out and somebody else, provided
Speaker:that, somebody else provided the, water, the diapers heaters coats
Speaker:whatever is coming out of that airplane.
Speaker:So that came from private individuals or from corporations or from whoever,
Speaker:So that was really neat to watch and see so many people that I think there
Speaker:was over 500 and I can't remember exact numbers over probably 550 aircraft that
Speaker:came through and then over probably 100 to 150, 000 pounds of stuff
Speaker:that was just what they could record
Speaker:after they
Speaker:started recording,
Speaker:Which was a couple of days in.
Speaker:As horrible as the hurricane has been to Western North Carolina, it
Speaker:has also been incredible to watch people come together to help out.
Speaker:Especially when they ended up putting their own lives at risk to help.
Speaker:Which was definitely the case with the two people whose plane caught fire.
Speaker:fire on their way to deliver supplies to the airport.
Speaker:Some of you may have seen the photos going around on Facebook showing the plane
Speaker:sitting on the runway engulfed in flames.
Speaker:There were a lot of different stories going around about what happened.
Speaker:But like everything that was going on at the airport that week, Devin was there
Speaker:and he can give us the whole story.
Speaker:It was on fire on final.
Speaker:And so we don't know exactly what happened.
Speaker:We can.
Speaker:We can guess, maybe it was a ruptured fuel line that had occurred.
Speaker:It was literally dripping aluminum about 200, 300 feet before it ever
Speaker:hit the
Speaker:ground.
Speaker:They were on final on a descent, and so they weren't like pointed
Speaker:straight down at the ground.
Speaker:They were like a good, They were coming in at a good angle of attack.
Speaker:And so when they hit, they couldn't see the runway from what I understand.
Speaker:Cause their cockpit
Speaker:had
Speaker:smoke all in
Speaker:it
Speaker:and they had some fire coming up between the two pilot and co pilot.
Speaker:They had very minor burns as far as I know, like
Speaker:nothing.
Speaker:sent
Speaker:to the
Speaker:hospital or anything, just minor burns.
Speaker:But they were able to, once it hit the ground, it broke the nose wheel off.
Speaker:And so that's what probably saved them is some of the folks at the
Speaker:airport were talking about how it probably grind that aircraft to a stop
Speaker:quicker than
Speaker:having
Speaker:breaks on, and so they were able to get the canopy up and
Speaker:both of them got out safely.
Speaker:And then.
Speaker:It, engulfed and then, nothing like exploded
Speaker:like, you know, A
Speaker:bomb, but It was definitely a
Speaker:fireball yeah,
Speaker:and so it took about an hour from the crash to When we had it cleared and people
Speaker:were taken off again, so no fatalities.
Speaker:So that Sadly that was, their,
Speaker:only aircraft.
Speaker:I don't think they had insurance on it, so they lost a complete loss.
Speaker:Very sad.
Speaker:While we are in the business of clearing up some of the different stories that were
Speaker:circulating around Facebook, we should also clarify what exactly was going on
Speaker:with FEMA's presence at the airport.
Speaker:I know personally, I saw people saying FEMA was doing nothing,
Speaker:others saying FEMA had taken control of everything, and nobody seemed
Speaker:to know exactly what was going on.
Speaker:But again, Devin was there.
Speaker:He's responsible for how things are running at the airport, so he can
Speaker:hopefully clear some things up for us.
Speaker:So I will say, for all intents and purposes, FEMA was
Speaker:not
Speaker:controlling
Speaker:our airport at one point.
Speaker:I think somebody got misconstrued there.
Speaker:FEMA had sent some volunteer, not volunteers, but some contractors to help
Speaker:us with what's called a PPR, which is a
Speaker:Prior permission
Speaker:request.
Speaker:And so basically that lines people up into a slot, a time slot to be able to fly in
Speaker:so that it stays safe that there was a day where we had 126 aircraft come in to drop
Speaker:supplies and we had one come in on fire.
Speaker:And another one had a flat tire and so to be able to get the airfield back in a safe
Speaker:to be able to operate it safely, we needed to have a way to time the arrivals better.
Speaker:And so that PPR really put a throttle on our airfield to where we could actually
Speaker:get people coming in sequentially.
Speaker:And so it got confused a little bit there.
Speaker:I think we
Speaker:got crossed
Speaker:off
Speaker:and said
Speaker:FEMA
Speaker:controlled, but the
Speaker:reality was if something bad happened, you can call that person because you get
Speaker:their phone number, you get their town number, you get their time slot and you
Speaker:can, instead of having 20 airplanes flying around waiting to try to land when there's
Speaker:a emergency low on fuel and potentially creating very dangerous situation.
Speaker:What you do is you have them.
Speaker:In that time slot, and you can call them and say, Hey, we
Speaker:have an incident on the field.
Speaker:Please don't leave
Speaker:yet.
Speaker:And so that, that
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And as far as FEMA goes, I think for me the government isn't set
Speaker:up to
Speaker:be philanthropic.
Speaker:They aren't set up to be some humanitarian aid organization, right?
Speaker:And so I think the expectation from people oftentimes is different from the
Speaker:reality because government is run by a lot of, there's a lot of regulations and
Speaker:red tape that government has to abide
Speaker:by.
Speaker:Once they set a.
Speaker:a way of functioning in place, they have to abide by that.
Speaker:That's their parameters.
Speaker:And so I think, that, that creates, challenges, and especially
Speaker:in people's brains, they're like the government in here.
Speaker:And so I just, like I can't answer for anybody, I just know for where I was at.
Speaker:But they did send people to help, for what we needed, which was to be able
Speaker:to have people there for our PPR.
Speaker:And they also, the people that came there also were there to just
Speaker:anything I needed, they helped with.
Speaker:So at one point I had to send all the martialers that had been there for days,
Speaker:like Kyle Hankinson was like leading the crew there for three days straight.
Speaker:He worked there,
Speaker:No pay, just
Speaker:out
Speaker:there
Speaker:to help, with a bunch of other guys.
Speaker:And I was able to send them on because I had those folks with
Speaker:the PPR and and we'd rotate them.
Speaker:And one of the guys, they would marshal the airplanes in that
Speaker:were delivering supplies and then they'd help offload the airplanes.
Speaker:And the group that was contractors there did an amazing job and
Speaker:really became pretty successful.
Speaker:It's such good friends with so many people that came out and helped.
Speaker:It says a brother is born for adversity.
Speaker:I
Speaker:think there's
Speaker:a lot of truth in that because, the Bible speaks to that, and so when we
Speaker:go through difficult times, you find out, you, you find out who your friends
Speaker:are,
Speaker:And you make good friends.
Speaker:Devastation and loss causes a lot of pain.
Speaker:And whenever there's pain, people tend to start to question, well, how
Speaker:can the universe be run by a good and loving God when things this awful
Speaker:are happening to me and around me?
Speaker:I asked J.
Speaker:R., one of the pastors at Element Church, and who you might remember from
Speaker:episode one of this podcast, to sit down and give us an answer to the question,
Speaker:where was God in Hurricane Helene?
Speaker:Yeah, it's always a difficult question.
Speaker:for, Believers who, have a good understanding of the Word of
Speaker:God, we realize that, we live in a world marked and broken by,
Speaker:sin and rebellion against God.
Speaker:we have an understanding that, in this life there will be adversity,
Speaker:Jesus says that we will have trouble, we will face, difficulty but it's
Speaker:hard for some people to understand, especially when you're going through it.
Speaker:I was part of a group text message, after the storms and the
Speaker:reality of all the devastation.
Speaker:You know, it was, made national news and just, an awareness really all
Speaker:across the country of how devastating that storm was to, Western North
Speaker:Carolina and the mountain villages.
Speaker:in that text message, there was someone who's a professing
Speaker:atheist and he asked the question.
Speaker:Where was y'all's loving God, in this hurricane?
Speaker:one of the, one of the other people that were in that, she
Speaker:responded almost immediately.
Speaker:And I was, I was struck by how quickly she responded.
Speaker:she said, he's here.
Speaker:And I knew, of course, just being part of a group of people that had been trying to,
Speaker:minister to those impacted by the storm.
Speaker:I was already aware of, the, hand of God at work.
Speaker:the goodness of him showing up in and through people.
Speaker:And I think that's just, a difficult reality to come to
Speaker:terms with, but that's the truth.
Speaker:it's a broken world right now.
Speaker:that's hard to endure.
Speaker:but the goodness of God is still present in it.
Speaker:I think about the psalmist says that we talking about humanity, we
Speaker:are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Speaker:And, I think about, when I think about that, I think the fearful part is our free
Speaker:will, our ability to, rebel against God, our ability to see, the man who's been
Speaker:beaten and robbed and left on the road for dead to see that need and walk around it.
Speaker:Where we can.
Speaker:Walk to it.
Speaker:And to me, we're wonderfully made.
Speaker:we have the free will to not do the right thing, but because we are created in the
Speaker:image of a good God, that goodness in the face of difficulty and suffering has
Speaker:the opportunity to rise to the surface and be fleshed out in and through us.
Speaker:If you just view the suffering from a distance, it's easy to say there's no God.
Speaker:But for those who enter into that suffering with hands to help, there's
Speaker:a clear awareness that God is aware of what's going on and that he's at
Speaker:work in the midst of that brokenness to bring healing and, restoration.
Speaker:And, so yeah, that's a good piece of advice.
Speaker:where's God?
Speaker:He's here.
Speaker:Come and see, come in and serve the people who are hurting and broken and you will
Speaker:feel his presence and you will see, the miraculous nature of how he works, even
Speaker:in a world that has rebelled against him.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean for me, I think when it all started that first evening, which it was
Speaker:so crazy It was like the first evening felt like several days but There was
Speaker:a point where I just said I never felt this in my life, but I felt god's arms
Speaker:just
Speaker:wrap
Speaker:around me like it was just touching like I just Almost like it's gonna be okay, And
Speaker:everything that happened, you just took one foot and put it in front of the next
Speaker:and you dealt with what came your way.
Speaker:And I looked at, a couple of things, I looked at the airport as a conduit,
Speaker:and I, it's, Flow, I didn't expect what was flowing through it to flow through
Speaker:it,
Speaker:but allowing that to flow
Speaker:was
Speaker:my goal, for the time that it needed to be there.
Speaker:So the goods and supplies that were coming in.
Speaker:I just knew, there's a timeframe for people when they have their
Speaker:eye on a situation before their eye gets diverted to something else.
Speaker:And so that's pretty critical during that time
Speaker:to
Speaker:get
Speaker:what
Speaker:you
Speaker:need,
Speaker:And to communicate what your needs are, cause you could get water until
Speaker:you're blue in the face, but you
Speaker:might
Speaker:need
Speaker:a chainsaw,
Speaker:Fuel, a warm jacket.
Speaker:Like a tent, and so that's where my heart was to keep encouraging
Speaker:Habitat to, cause they did such an amazing job, and so I think
Speaker:that
Speaker:was
Speaker:pretty critical,
Speaker:For our community is to get what it was needed at that time.
Speaker:And so I'm thankful.
Speaker:I'm thankful to be a part of it.
Speaker:you know, we all had
Speaker:pieces.
Speaker:to play in this event, and everybody was a piece of that puzzle.
Speaker:It was like, it's not a me, it's a,
Speaker:we,
Speaker:and ultimately
Speaker:it was him,
Speaker:That made it happen.
Speaker:Cause those details that had to come together at the ninth
Speaker:hour, just, I watched over and over again, just work out.
Speaker:And I believe truly it was the Lord just allowing things to flow
Speaker:Where was God in Hurricane Helene?
Speaker:He was here.
Speaker:He was in the hearts of the people who were helping, and
Speaker:the people who were hurting.
Speaker:Christ tells us that we are going to face trouble, but he also tells us
Speaker:that we aren't going to face it alone.
Speaker:Things are never going to be exactly the same as they were before the
Speaker:hurricane, and the recovery process is really just getting started,
Speaker:especially in places like Chimney Rock.
Speaker:It's gonna take years to rebuild some of those areas, but none
Speaker:of us are facing this alone.
Speaker:we have each other, and we have a very present and living God who
Speaker:invites us to walk alongside Him through every part of our lives.
Speaker:And we can be a blessing, not just to the people inside of our community,
Speaker:but also to the people outside, the people further west who got
Speaker:hit really hard by this hurricane.
Speaker:I mean that I would say, for me, the part that I'm really grateful for is
Speaker:that not only did the supplies help our
Speaker:community
Speaker:locally and it was pretty critical at the beginning getting supplies
Speaker:because roads and everything were very difficult to traverse.
Speaker:But it also went up into many different regions
Speaker:in
Speaker:North Carolina,
Speaker:like our area, North Carolina, up into Black Mountain I think it went
Speaker:up some up in the Swannanoa and all around and so that was really
Speaker:amazing to watch, like this thing transformed from, who would have known,
Speaker:The devastation and the horrible
Speaker:conditions that would occur from this one storm.
Speaker:you know, The outpouring of people trying to help was
Speaker:incredible.
Speaker:It's
Speaker:absolutely incredible.
Speaker:And I'm probably not giving everybody credit that's due credit
Speaker:because, man, so many people.
Speaker:Our finance department was great.
Speaker:Dealing with my boss, the county manager.
Speaker:He was awesome.
Speaker:He came out.
Speaker:Multiple times and checked and,
Speaker:We were in communication there.
Speaker:The emergency management director was awesome.
Speaker:Frankie Hamrick got us the generator to be able to actually get the fuel going again
Speaker:so that we could actually fuel people who were out there doing the rescue work
Speaker:with helicopters and everything else.
Speaker:And then yeah it was Camp Electric showed up.
Speaker:to be able to get us hooked in to the system, just people showed up, and showed
Speaker:out and really went above and beyond.
Speaker:Just trying to help it work.
Speaker:my son, Tristan, he was there for a good portion of this.
Speaker:And so it just I didn't get a lot of sleep.
Speaker:So him being there was just a huge encouragement to me and help, at times
Speaker:he would take my phone and take notes for me so that I could go back and
Speaker:make sure I wasn't missing anything when I would think of something.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Cause, my phone was blowing up, like I couldn't keep up with it all.
Speaker:I couldn't keep up with my emails, I couldn't keep up with hardly anything,
Speaker:but it was just putting out whatever fire was in front of me, and making sure I put
Speaker:somebody into place to take care of that if there was a need that was arising.
Speaker:Then Jonathan came out at one point they, Tristan stayed with me overnight for quite
Speaker:a few nights and then Jonathan did and, Maddie was there With Mandy a lot and
Speaker:helping with the habitat side of things.
Speaker:So it was a blessing to have my family around.
Speaker:My dad and mom came out multiple times just to be there.
Speaker:My uncle even came out, and it was just yeah, it was good.
Speaker:Even though I wasn't able to go home, home came to me, even my sister and her family
Speaker:came out and my brother in law came out.
Speaker:Greg Robertson.
Speaker:Shout out.
Speaker:Helped out too on the ramp.
Speaker:Just a huge blessing with marshalling and everything else too.
Speaker:Incredible.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:I'm grateful for them, I think many different areas, I think you watch
Speaker:down in Shreveport when the hurricane hit down there years and years ago,
Speaker:people didn't band together or help each other, but I think in our area,
Speaker:you really see the outpouring of people who genuinely care for their neighbor.
Speaker:And not perfectly but by and large,
Speaker:people
Speaker:show up
Speaker:and people give and people, neighbors help neighbors, and I think
Speaker:that I'm proud of our community.
Speaker:I'm grateful for it.
Speaker:I think that's where God shows
Speaker:up.
Speaker:He's the hands and the feet that walk
Speaker:over
Speaker:and
Speaker:check on a neighbor.
Speaker:He's the hands and feet that pick up something that when a neighbor's
Speaker:house gets flooded with sewage from a line, because their house is lower
Speaker:than their sewer, their septic lines.
Speaker:He shows up in the love that pours out in our community by those that live here.
Speaker:And yeah, I think it's a picture of who God is.
Speaker:Bad things happen, and that's always going to be the case because we live in a
Speaker:fallen
Speaker:world,
Speaker:And it's not going to be healed until,
Speaker:The
Speaker:Lord says
Speaker:so,
Speaker:Completely.
Speaker:But our healing through Christ can bring the ability to look outward instead of
Speaker:inward.
Speaker:Thank you for listening to this episode of Small Town Big God, and remember,
Speaker:you don't have to wait until your neighbor's house floods before you walk
Speaker:over and show them that God loves them.
Speaker:A disaster like this creates a lot of needs, and I'm proud to see that
Speaker:Small Town Friendly was willing to step up and meet those needs.
Speaker:you also walk past people every day who need help in one form or another.
Speaker:It just isn't as apparent as a tree falling on their house.
Speaker:So keep your eyes open, and thank you for being a part of Small Town Friendly.
