Multiple departments battle fire

A dozen fire departments responded shortly after 6 p.m. May 11 to a blaze on the Glade Valley Road business of Blan Bottomley, which resulted in about $75,000 in structure damage, according to Glade Creek Volunteer Fire Department chief David Higgins.

The fire took place at Bottomley Evergreens and Farms, starting in a hay barn. “The whole building was fully engulfed when we arrived and a house trailer was starting to ignite,” he said.

Responding to the blaze were 12 volunteer fire departments including Glade Creek, Cherry Lane, Sparta-Alleghany, Laurel Springs, Piney Creek, Galax, Va., Skull Camp, State Road, Franklin, Austin, McGrady and Traphill. Alleghany Rescue Squad also responded, as did Central Surry Fire Department. The National Park Service and Alleghany Sheriff’s Department assisted with traffic control.

Higgins explained the reason behind the amount of departmental response comes from the lack of fire hydrants around the area.

“We had to flow so much water,” Higgins said. “We don’t have fire hydrants out here. We were flowing approximately 3,000 gallons a minute of water. We had to have a lot of help supplying water. The town has hydrants. Here we have no water supply so that’s why we had to have so many different departments. That was our only problem.”

Higgins further explained that five of the departments, namely Glade Creek, Galax, Skull Camp, Cherry Lane and Sparta-Alleghany, actually fought the fire, while “all the rest of the departments were the water supply. Part of the departments, like Galax, Cherry Lane, Sparta, they were also hauling water.

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