On Nov. 20, a rapidly spreading blaze destroyed three condominiums, and one private residence on Bald Head Island in an incident that severely tested resources. One call to 9-1-1 advised, “I think we’ve been bombed. There’s fire like crazy. It’s awful.”
Bald Head Island consists of approximately 12,000 acres located two nautical miles off the North Carolina coast. It is the southernmost barrier island in the state, and its 1,120 homes house 247 full-time residents. During peak vacation season the population can reach 10,000.
Fire protection is provided by the combined Bald Head Island Department of Public Safety, under the command of Chief Alan May. Staffed by 26 full-time and 34 volunteer personnel, the department operates out of a single station. Emergency and service vehicles are the only automobiles permitted on the island, with the bulk of transportation being bicycles and golf-carts.
The incident
At 7:56 p.m., Brunswick County Emergency Communications dispatched Bald Head Island responders to a structure fire at 114 North Bald Head Wynd. At 8:01, the first arriving unit advised, “I’ve got four structures completely involved. I’m going to need multiple mutual aid companies.” This triggered a pre-plan that automatically assigned Southport and Oak Island to the call.
Due to the remoteness of the island, this and subsequent assistance required significant mobilization, since help had to be delivered by boat. Boiling Spring Lakes, Bolivia, Carolina Beach, Leland, Northwest, Shallotte, St. James, Sunny Point, Sunset Harbor/Zion Hill, and Winnabow all provided personnel and/or apparatus as part of the fire attack and coverage. Brunswick County and St. James EMS also responded.
The flotilla for the 20-minute trip consisted of vessels from the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Marine Patrol, the Bald Head Island Ferry, and the U.S. Coast Guard. Since none of these were capable of carrying apparatus, the Bald Head Island Barge was activated off-hours to address this need.
May was eating dinner on the mainland when he was notified of the event. Based upon the initial size-up, he instituted a series of notifications to support long-term operations, including the placement of helicopters on standby, the recall of off-duty personnel, and the request for additional EMS/rehab resources.
In an interview with Firehouse, he explained, “All of our personnel are trained as firefighters, police officers, and EMTs or paramedics. In this case, we were in full firefighting mode. We wanted a couple of ambulance crews over because all our people were going to be fighting the fire.”
Initial strategy
Thankfully, that was not the case and resources were assigned to two attack groups to begin suppression. A lieutenant was assigned off-site to coordinate management of mutual aid assets.
May praised local citizens for their assistance in this process.
“It’s approximately three-quarters of a mile between the ferry terminal and the scene,” May said. “The island residents really pitched in. They showed up with golf carts and were shuttling the firefighters back and forth.” Neighbors in the vicinity of the fire used garden hoses to help minimize the impact of flying embers.
Embers were also a concern for the nearby golf course, who were asked to activate their irrigation system in order to lessen the risk. Since this water is sourced independently from the municipal system, there was no adverse impact on firefighting.
The island's public services department monitored the situation throughout, and reported that while pumps were operating at maximum capacity there was no cause for concern. The chief offered high praise for the cooperation provided by all village officials and staff during the event, especially their assistance in mobilizing resources.
Lessons learned
When asked for take-aways from this fire, May offered, “The mutual aid plan was definitely a big factor. Where it fell a little short is that we had a lot of people coming, and we should have held some back in reserve. We didn’t know what the potential was for this thing spreading. We’ve already had our after-action meeting, and this is being addressed.”
“With so many different agencies, communications was an issue. There was a lot of cross-talking between channels. That’s something else we’re going to work on.”
“Lighting was a huge issue because this island is pitch black at night. Our rehab area was pretty dark. We literally had to have people posted to keep others from tripping over hoses, so lighting is something we could have used more of.”
“We got a tremendous amount of support from the village residents. People were offering food and places to stay. The restaurants fired up their grills, and one owner who was on a cruise got in touch with her general manager to start bringing food out to the firefighters.”
“We were also fortunate in that we had sufficient personnel to allow us to adequately rehab. We were able to pull people out every twenty minutes or so and substitute a fresh crew.”
“The geography of the island is such that there is no one size fits all solution. What is going to work on one street is not going to work on another. There’s no grid system here. As far as the final outcome, we were not going to change that. You have to remember we initially only had six people. That’s why we have a mutual aid plan. There’s no way in hell six people are going to fight a fire of that magnitude.”
Final response consisted of three engines and a ladder from Bald Head Island, and three engines from mutual aid departments. The island’s two ambulances and three quick response vehicles were also at the scene.
Most of those agencies offering assistance were released by 2:30 a.m., with local crews wetting down hotspots throughout that day.
