RICHARD NUBEL
The State Port Pilot

Photo By Scott Garner Photo By Scott Garner Photo By Scott Garner Photo By Scott Garner Photo By Scott Garner

Cause of a colossal Friday afternoon fire that leveled the ten-year-old Oak Island Coast Guard station in 30 minutes time remained undetermined Tuesday as guardsmen patched together the remains of their station and officers went about making plans for reconstruction.

No Coast Guard personnel were injured and firefighters responding to the blaze suffered no serious injury.

Power to the Oak Island Lighthouse, cut by the fire, was restored over the weekend.

“We suspect the cause was electrical, but it burned so bad, it’s undeterminable,” said boatswain’s mate chief Newman Cantrell, the station’s commanding officer. “ATF (U. S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) has not issued its final investigation report, but we’re fairly certain that is what it will conclude.”

Monday and Tuesday this week Coast Guard personnel set about filing claims for property lost in the inferno of Friday. Six of the station’s dozen personnel were housed in the 10,741-square-foot main building that also hosted a communications center and administrative offices.

Telephone service to Coast Guard Station Oak Island was expected to be restored by late Monday and computer equipment was expected to be set-up in temporary offices established in the dockside offices occupied by the crew of the buoy tender Blackberry.

The station’s ranking officer said it would take two to three weeks for the station to become fully operational again. Since the fire erupted Friday, Station Oak Island has been assisted in its mission by crews stationed north and south of the Cape Fear River, including Station Wrightsville Beach at Masonboro Inlet.

BMC Cantrell said it appeared Monday that the Coast Guard would move quickly to rebuild Station Oak Island.

“We’re looking at a two-to-five-year timeframe,” BMC Cantrell said. “We’re looking at building the exact same building with some improvements. It was a beautifully designed building on the outside, but now that we’ve lived in it for ten years there are some interior improvements we can make.”

BMC Cantrell said the mission of Coast Guard Station Oak Island is especially critical now with the additional emphasis placed on homeland security in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and Washington, D. C. That makes rebuilding the station imperative.

“With the emphasis today on homeland security, you’ve got to look around at the region,” BMC Cantrell said. “I’ve got a couple of strategic ports right here.”

Support for rebuilding Coast Guard Station Oak Island has stretched through the Coast Guard chain of command all the way to the halls of Congress.

“Sen. Edwards has already said he would do everything in his power to see that we rebuild,” BMC Cantrell said. “I think we’ve got overwhelming support to do it. My bosses are telling me we’re going to do it.”

First sign of trouble was detected just before 4 p.m. Friday when personnel on duty at Coast Guard Station Oak Island noticed smoke apparently coming from beneath the floor of the main building at the station. The building was completed in 1992 as part of an overall $3.5-million upfitting of the station.

About half the station’s crew was in Southport serving as honor guard at a funeral when fire broke out. Petty officer second class Jeff Gohs was one who remained on station.

“We smelled something, like it was burning,” PO Gohs said. “We went outside and saw smoke billowing out of the front of the building.”

Photo By Terry Calhoun Photo By Terry Calhoun Photo By Terry Calhoun

PO Gohs and others at the station took to the station’s intercom, warning personnel on-site to clear the building. They went to check the building’s attic and, finding it clear, began to empty the building of its volatile contents.

“We grabbed all the ammunition out of the armory,” PO Gohs said. “We rigged fire hoses and started trying to cool down the outside of the building.”

Yaupon Beach Volunteer Fire Department arrived on scene in minutes, but even in that short time the building had become fully involved. Additional firefighting units were sent from Oak Island, Southport, Boiling Spring Lakes and Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point. Caswell Beach and Oak Island police teamed with Brunswick County sheriff’s deputies to control vehicular access to Caswell Beach Road as the plumes of black smoke issuing from the Coast Guard station began to attract attention.

The fire was whipped by a southwest wind that gusted up to 29 knots, or nearly 35 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington. Winds were so strong fire was blown across a parking lot about 30 yards north of the building. Five cars in that parking lot caught fire and flames spread to the marsh beyond it. Firefighters doused a blaze the ran 40 yards into the marsh.

“We got everybody out and all the ammunition we could before the fire department got here,” BMC Cantrell said. “They worked their butts off. It just went.”

The building was quickly destroyed.

“The building was down in probably 30 minutes,” PO Gohs said.

Firefighters continued to pour water on the piles of smoldering ash that were left until just after 6 p.m.

Personnel who lived on-site lost nearly all their possessions. Non-resident personnel also lost personal property to the blaze.

As fire ravaged Coast Guard Station Oak Island Friday afternoon, citizens of Caswell Beach and neighboring Oak Island began to make their way to Coast Guard personnel with offers of assistance. Some even offered to take personnel into their homes.

The station’s crew in residence has been billeted at a local motel since the fire.

The expressions of support from the community did not escape notice.

“Since that day I have been trying to express my appreciation and the appreciation of my crew for the support we have received from firefighters, the Red Cross, churches, citizens, retirees,” BMC Cantrell said. “The town managers and mayors have come by. There’s been a lot of support for us.

“I have a feeling that word of my appreciation for the community has not gotten out there.”