News

Vacation cottages going up in smoke

By Bill Moss, Published: March 19, 2015

The Hendersonville Fire Department will conduct a practice burn on Saturday, March 21, at the former Mountain Aire Cottages at 1351 Asheville Highway. The structure to be burned is located on the Haywood Road side of the property.
Several weeks ago firefighters were allowed to conduct a practice burn on another structure on the property but due to the condition of the structure were only able to train in exterior firefighting operations such as ladder placement, hose streams, ventilation and exterior fire suppression techniques. The structure to be burned Saturday is more structurally sound and firefighters will be able to conduct interior live fire training, including search and rescue, forcible entry, ventilation and interior fire suppression techniques.
The practice burn is scheduled to start Saturday morning around 9:30 a.m. and be completed by 5 p.m. Traffic will be minimally affected but citizens can expect to see heavy smoke in the area. No lanes of traffic will be shut down until the final burn down of the structure, which will occur sometime in the afternoon. At that time the turning lane into Druid Hills Avenue off N.C. 191 will be closed for safety reasons.