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

Welcome to Small Town, Big God.

My name is Michael Collins, and I'm here again to bring you a

story showing how God is at work in Rutherford County, North Carolina.

On September 27th, 2024, our county was hit by Hurricane Helene, which caused

unprecedented devastation, especially to the Lake Lure, Chimney Rock area.

In this episode, you're going to hear about the hurricane and the days that

followed from a man named Devon Raisch.

I asked Devon to come on the podcast because Devon runs the Rutherford

County Airport, which became a sort of base of operations for a lot of

the disaster relief efforts that were taking place right after the hurricane.

So he had a first hand account of a lot of the main events following the hurricane,

including a fire truck that ran off the road, the emergency rescue of an 11 day

old baby, and a disaster relief plane that came in for a landing on fire.

So buckle up, because there's a lot in this episode, and by the end of

it, my goal is that you will have the answer to a very difficult question

that I think has been on people's minds since the hurricane hit, which

is, where was God in Hurricane Helene?

So my name is Devon rash.

I am the airport director of operations at the Rutherford County

Airport, and I've been there for about five and a half years now.

Awesome.

And what is that role like what do you what are you responsible for then?

My responsibilities they are very varied.

Anything pretty much that does with the airport as far as from the

day-to-Day operations fuel is one of the main areas that, that I deal with.

Along with staffing and scheduling and.

All the way down to the nuts and bolts of the workings of an airport

and then working with the state.

And Sometimes federal side, depending on what's going on out there.

Before the hurricane, Devon was not expecting things

to be as bad as they were.

I don't think anybody was, but he knew that it could be bad, so

he was paying extra attention to the fuel supply at the airport.

In the days leading up to the hurricane started looking at our fuel supply

because we always have to manage how much fuel we have on hand.

So in our tanks, we don't have this extraordinary amount of fuel

that we can keep at the airport.

And so I have to always juggle how much fuel quantity we have on hand.

And so leading up to the hurricane coming in, I realized we need to

make sure that we have plenty of fuel for the jet helicopter traffic

that was going to possibly be coming in because I could tell the storm

was, potentially going to be bad.

Couldn't tell how bad and uh,

It's not just this

hurricane, it's any adverse weather conditions.

When you're dealing with something that's potentially going to make it

so that Duke Energy is going to have helicopters on the lines flying lines to

make sure that things are getting fixed.

We just try to keep our fuel supply up so that we can help them.

And it also is another factor that you have to deal with other airports that

are asking for fuel at the same time.

There may be a run on fuel.

And so you're just really trying to make sure that you

protect your fuel and get it.

Get it up.

So in the days leading up to the hurricane a day or two before I was working with

our fuel supplier to be able to give us fuel and provide a fuel load for us.

We obviously pay for it, but we have to work out to

organize them getting it to us.

And so that fuel supply was due to come in literally the morning the hurricane hit.

Fuel is a big priority because without it, obviously, those

planes are not going anywhere.

But getting a fuel truck to the airport in the middle of a hurricane

is a lot easier said than done.

I got a call at about 7 45 in the morning.

So I literally 10 minutes before that watched a tree go over in my backyard.

That's like close to 75 foot tall.

And then I get a phone call saying, Hey, we're on the way to give you fuel.

Are you at the airport?

And I'm like, no, there's a hurricane going on.

Figured you would have canceled your trip, and so I said I'll, I'm on my way now.

So I ended up hopping in the car that morning to head out to the airport.

okay at the airport during the hurricane?

I saw there was a tree that was blocking 64 where the truck would be coming

down, even though I could get into Oscar Justice, they couldn't get down

the

road.

And he wanted me to look and see if the road, that side

road, Oscar Justice was clear.

So I quickly ran down Oscar Justice and my truck, and turned around and came back and

then About that time Duke power, a little truck was pulling up on the other side

on 64 to clear that tree that was down.

And so I looked up and saw there were a couple more trees that had

potential and backed up a little bit.

And as I backed up the, about three trees fell and kissed the

front of my truck.

So, Yeah.

So at that point there weren't any other trees to really fall on me.

So I had brought a chainsaw and got out and helped Duke.

Clear one side of 64 and then I was able to call the guy and

found out he was 12 miles away

Yeah, so he in trying to get

Him back down to the airport on the call right after we cleared the road He told

me that a tree the size of a house fell in front of him And then he tried to he

was gonna back up and he said a tree fell behind him And so He was pinned in there

waiting to see if that would be cleared.

And so he was two miles from 40.

So I was

like, man, you chose a back road to go down to bring fuel in a hurricane.

So yeah, but poor guy.

Great guy.

I didn't know at the time.

So I went ahead and headed out to the airport.

Thankfully I had my little chainsaw.

I had to cut my way to the airport or probably close to six trees, little

pine trees that had fallen in the road.

So kept having to clear half the road, finally got out to the airport and So

there was a line over the road as I was driving up airport road, a power line.

And then as I got inside the terminal, there was actually water

coming in because of the Eve.

There's like that at the pinnacle of your roof, there's that little vent.

And the rain was blowing sideways so much that it was coming in

the

vent.

And so I was having, Water issues there and was waiting to see

if he would be able to make it.

And about 11 o'clock I realized he's probably not

going to

make it.

And he was there eight hours

that day

waiting to get out of there

The fuel truck never made it to the airport that day.

After eight hours of being stranded between two trees on some back road

two miles from I 40, the driver had to turn around and head back home.

And while the driver was waiting for someone to clear the road,

Devon had to go back out in the chaos that was taking place.

. For me, about 11 o'clock, I realized, power's out.

My house, I've got three refrigerators and a house full of people,

including my sister and her family.

And so there was about 14 of them there at the time from the night before,

Realizing

they're in the woods and it's just be safer for them to be where we

were so I was trying to get home.

It took me literally three hours to get home, which was a 10 minute drive.

Trying to cut through trees going around down power lines.

I couldn't get through.

There was literally a truck, a fire truck that had gone

off the road and flipped down

into a ditch.

And that was one of the main reasons

I

couldn't

get through.

So that was on Oscar

justice.

It had hacked.

Actually picked up a line that was hanging across the road really low.

They didn't see and the, it jerked the front wheel and then the top

line picked up the top of the truck and literally flipped it into

the ditch,

but I wasn't there when it happened, but the guy, the passenger is

one of our grounds guys out there while the main ground

guy that takes care of Our property there.

Yeah.

So he's safe.

Both of them are safe, it did hurt his shoulder, but yeah, it was like a 20,

30 foot ravine they went down into.

Yeah.

If you were out driving around on the day of the hurricane, you

probably experienced some of the same things that Devin has shared.

It was a very chaotic time for small town friendly.

I live in the middle of town and it was chaotic just trying to go check on

family members who live a mile away,

but instead of being overwhelmed by all the problems and trying to find

a solution to everything at once, Devin had the wisdom to just focus

on what was right in front of him.

Everything kind of gets fuzzy for me.

There's a lot happening.

My parents were pinned into with trees and they had to go out the back

end of their property to meet, it'll meet up with somebody who had a car.

But so I was able to go over and help get them cut out to, there was

several guys with chainsaws that actually worked at that juncture.

My chainsaw finally decided to

And it, it worked randomly, but I was finally able to get it going

and help get them cut to where they could get out to the main road and

then go back and check on my family.

And I did eventually get back out to the airport that day to later

on, but that's much later on it.

So yeah, it

was quite a day.

My guy one of my guys came out and manned the airport for a while that

day.

Yeah, I mean for me it was just dealing with the next

foresight into

the

future at all, it's just like right now we're just you could see the devastation

and then literally people stuck on the other side of trees that couldn't get

out and then people down in the ditches that tried to go around and it's just

literally just a mess and finally

was able to figure out a way back to my house, but

I really literally later on that evening is when I was laying in bed.

And I realized that, there's no power, nobody can call for fuel at the

airport if somebody needs anything.

And if a helicopter comes in for med, med flight or a search and rescue or

whatever it may be, there's nobody there to give them fuel because our self serve

unit is no longer working, no power.

I can fuel with the truck because obviously it's independent of everything.

At that point I realized I need to go back to the airport and

it was like, I guess maybe nine

o'clock,

Okay 9 30 the night of the

the night after, yeah, the hurricane came through.

Nobody expected a storm like this to hit western North Carolina,

which means nobody was prepared for the damage that it caused.

Obviously, that is mainly evident in the mountains, where homes at 2, 000 feet

of elevation were hit by flash floods.

But it also showed up in more subtle ways, like when we all lost cell phone coverage.

Our cell phones, I mean everybody experienced it is the crazy of all

of a sudden you lost coverage like

at six o'clock or whenever it was.

And like for the next, it seemed like 30, 40 hours we had no cell coverage.

And I think the primary reason for that was they undersized the

generator fuel capacity on the cell

towers.

And so they probably ran out of fuel and the self towers went

out.

I don't think it was any conspiracy.

It was just.

lack of realizing some horrific event was going to take place.

We were not prepared for a storm of this, the

magnitude, absolutely.

Cell service is not an issue compared to the homes and businesses

and lives lost in the floods.

But in a disaster like this, when people are trying to check on their loved ones

and no one yet knows the full story of what's going on or how bad the damage is,

the little things like that can multiply or magnify the chaos and the fear.

But the best way for us to deal with this kind of chaos in our community

is to do exactly what Devin did.

Which is to focus on the problems and responsibilities right in front of you

the things that are within your control.

Devin went home and made sure his family was taken care of.

Then went to the airport where his knowledge and expertise

could be best put to use.

But that first night at the airport was anything but relaxing.

And Devin had a few unexpected visitors.

Really

was just kind of

settling in

for

the night

because I knew it was going to be a long night.

I was already prepared.

Like I, all I needed to do is grab the keys and a book and go out and fuel if

somebody came,

And it's

a big F,

you know, You just don't know,

but you gotta, it was a safety factor.

And I just felt like, there's a great responsibility that Assume when

you take a position like mine and it wasn't something I planned for.

It was just something that, I realized in my mind that, it's

pretty critical that, fuel gets into these helicopters if there's

needed for life flight or whatever.

So, while I was out there, there was it was getting pretty dark and then

I'm saying it was probably maybe 10, 11 o'clock, probably 10 o'clock at night.

And I look outside and there's this car that comes running down

the fence line on the outside of

the

fence

at night.

And so I'm like, somebody is trying

to

get in

to

get the fuel.

And our power generation for the airport.

, we got a generator that just gives generation for our airfield lighting.

So it doesn't power the airport terminal or the fuel farm,

but the lights are on, right?

, and here's this.

Rotating beacon telling everybody we have power,

but so it was just really odd and, they can race it down the side and

running up this bank on the other side, trying to get around the fence,

hopping through the tall weeds.

I was literally waiting to see them disappear.

because there's

a

culvert

there

with about an eight foot drop.

no.

And so I was calling a 911 and I finally got through and I

was like, this is the airport.

And they were like, what County are you in?

And I'm like, Oh my goodness, they are, this isn't our County.

Like it was Harnett County was taking our 911 calls because

of all the phone system issues.

And so I like had to slow myself down.

I said, I'm in Rutherford County.

I'm at the airport.

I manage the field and then explain there.

Somebody looks like they're trying to

get

into the property.

So anyway, crazy.

And so, finally I get off the phone with them.

They're like we're going to get somebody out there.

Literally before that happened, five minutes before the guy drove down

the grass on the backside of the property, right below where my window

is.

I had to state highway patrol.

Come out and they were asking if I was going to be there all

night because their helicopter

guys wanted

to

know

For sure that I was going to be there and I said yes I'll be here all night And they

left and five minutes later this happened.

So i'm like,

can you please

just

get

the state highway

patrol back out here?

They're close.

they're close.

And so then I called our airport authority chairman and and

asked him if he could try to get

some

help out there for

me.

Cause I don't know who this guy is.

By this time he had drove back down the fence line and drove up the

field and was running across the

upper

ramp

area

Going, he was in the car going up there.

And then he got out and was running across, like jogging across the ramp area.

And so I was like,

who is this

person?

And I didn't know if there was more people in the car either.

So anyway, emergency service management calls back.

And it was like, I said, this is the airport.

And they're like, Devon.

It's all right.

As I said, we got some folks coming like five minutes later, there were five

sheriff's cars

up there, like lights on, cornered the guy.

And they're like, Hey, he says he's a tenant out here at the airport

and his hangers over there and we're just going to let him go.

I hear that over the radio.

I was, I'm talking to one of the, one of the guys out there that, I had come

and I was like, hold on a second, let me look at his face and see if it's actually

somebody that, or if they're, I didn't want to have to deal with them again.

And so I got over there and I was walking, I was like, I don't know

the car, I don't know the guy.

And as I walk up on him, it's It was like Pete, he's a firefighter out

of

New Jersey, just got off a shift and he had a car in his hangar he was

trying to get to because he lives

up in

Asheville and he was trying to get back to his family and his car he

was trying to get a bigger car with four wheel drive and all this stuff

shoved in there with Generators and everything else and

he was getting he didn't

think

anybody

was

at

the

airport

So he was freaking out that he couldn't get through the

gate and I was like, I know

him

It's all right.

You can let him go.

So Anyway,

yeah.

After that it me up, but my parents, I like had randomly actually I say randomly,

but it was a God thing had showed up right as I was walking back from talking to him.

And I was like, who told you that something was going on out here?

It was dark.

We thought you could use some, company, I was like I could thank you.

Thanks for coming.

And then later that night I was sleeping on the couch.

And I

like

groggily woke up.

And it's ominous.

Like at that point the lights had gone out on the runway side.

So the only light that was shining was the airport beacon going around.

So it was ominous.

And you got green, then you got white, then you got green.

I look outside and it's kind of a little

foggy.

And

I see, I like.

There's a car sitting out there that, and I was like, was it sitting there before?

And then finally I was thinking back and I was like I was standing right

in that spot talking to somebody and I was like, no, it's, somebody's out

here.

And I looked up on, on the ramp side and saw somebody with

a flashlight walking around.

So I was like they're up there.

And I think I know who's a car

is,

but

I need

to make sure.

So

I got out the door and realized, yeah, it's one of the guys that.

actually works in a maintenance shop.

And so I was able to get

out

to him

very carefully, turn the lights back on so he'd know that somebody was there.

And yeah, so just stuff like that.

It was just like, man, being out here at dark, and you already, there's,

yeah, a lot of people are needing.

Needing stuff and there's a lot of people that are also out, that are

not out for anything good too that you

of watch out

for.

A stranger walking around at night is never a comforting sight, but it

is especially concerning in the wake of a natural disaster, because people

are not exactly at their calmest and most rational state of mind.

But Devin made it through that night with the help of emergency

services and his family, and the next day, things really got going.

Things really started picking up the day after the

storm

had

occurred.

Because I think people were getting their bearings and there

was no cell phone coverage for

that

period of

time.

And so people started pouring in little by little and then it got, you know, kind of

saw that it was going to get pretty busy.

So I guess I, I reckon it to see an avalanche coming.

And so I knew that it was gonna, if I didn't stay ahead of it,

it

would cover me up.

And so at that point I, I had checked my email and the only email that I

actually read for quite a while was the email from the North Carolina

Division of Aviation, our rep.

for that area had said, if you need anything, please reach out to us.

And so found his cell phone number or phone number in the

message and gave him a call.

And I said, and there's a couple of things we need.

One is a generator because I can't get fuel until we get power on

our system

because they won't offload it.

They won't load it over the top.

They have to have the system working to safely pump it.

And I said, the other thing I need is people manpower, but people that know what

they're doing.

I need qualified individuals to be able to come out here and help.

Because it just, I knew that

we were going to need a lot

of

hands

on deck,

Yeah.

Yeah.

So they started working on getting help in there by reaching out

to other airports in the state.

And quite a few airports had wrote back and said that they'd be willing

to send refuelers, like people that were line staff that could help.

And then we had several people that were airport directors that

were willing to come as well.

The first one to arrive there was Actually the first person

I had come was my fuel rep.

I ended up calling him out of Hendersonville the day after the storm.

And he had a tree actually had fallen into his house.

And he ended up coming down that day and fueled all day long.

And then had to leave at five to go back to meet the

adjuster,

At his house.

So he was It was awesome to have him there and then another gentleman

named Greg Frank from Harnett County.

He was airport director there had come to, to start helping me.

So

this is where the fog is I can't like the days start to, mix together.

Being at the airport I think I went seven days with about 10 hours

of

sleep.

Oh

man.

I think there was there was another Marcus Came from, he's a director at

another airport in the state, Norenberg Maxson, and he sent one of his guys

later to come to, I think the next day he sent a guy and then we had a

couple of guys from Moore County over in Pinehurst come out and then a couple

of guys from Concord Padgett airport, and then a guy all the way actually

from Chattanooga at Wilson over there.

Came from Tennessee to

come help.

probably leaving

people

out,

but

there's just so many people really

poured in on my side.

Not to

mention all the other,

Things

hmm.

Devin has more to say about this later, but The way that people came

together to help out in the wake of Helene was really incredible.

The story would be very different if people had not been willing to leave

their normal lives and come to Small Town Friendly to serve those in need.

Some of the most amazing stories, to me, civilians who came of their own

accord with their own aircraft and their own funding to perform search and

rescue or to deliver supplies to those stranded higher up in the mountains.

You guys are doing a lot of refueling.

Who

you

Is this,

are these civilians with helicopters trying to help, or is this

government?

Yeah really a variety.

I would say, a good mixture at the beginning of both civilian and government.

As time went on we fueled a lot of Blackhawks.

I think one day we fueled 12 Blackhawks and four Chinooks and

and then a myriad of other kind of helicopters too, some military and

then a good bit civilian as well.

So there was a lot of folks out there that were utilizing the airfield

for search and rescue and then eventually for recovery and just.

the efforts to get supplies around to, for the military as well.

We're using airfield to refuel to get from

A to

B.

So we had a lot of refuelings.

A lot.

One of the many refuelings that Devin did after the hurricane helped save

the life of an 11 day old infant.

You may have heard about this already, because several news channels picked up

the story, but a few guys from the non profit Aerial Recovery called the airport,

saying that they needed a hot refuel.

Now, hot refuel is the process of refueling a helicopter while the

engines are still running, and it's not something Devin does just

because somebody asked him to.

Because it's not a safe procedure.

But when the guys from Aerial Recovery called and explained that

they needed fuel immediately if they were going to make it to this

child in time, Devin made it happen.

Hot refueling is not something that is, is a safe procedure, so to speak.

I've done it a lot in the past.

I worked for a private company FBO, and I've done a lot of different things in

aviation over the years, and so it wasn't something I was completely uncomfortable

with as far as the procedures of it.

But yeah, so hot refueling is is something you want to make sure that it's something

life

or

death

before

you

just go out and

do it all,

For just anybody.

I

just asked, what's

the situation,

Because everybody, there's a lot of stuff happening at that juncture.

And so when I realized it was, critical, I, that's when I made

sure I got over there quickly and

got

them

taken

care of so they could get out and help.

The, there's safety aspects there that you want to have in place.

Eventually we ended up with an ARF team from Over in Charlotte, that

was air guard fire rescue service.

And so we had two trucks eventually out at the airport for fire safety.

And then on the other side of that, a lot of military helicopters they

just don't the larger ones, if they shut them down It's called a, a hot

start or not a hot start, excuse me.

It's a cycle and so there's only so many cycles they have before

they have

to

do maintenance.

And then also some of those helicopters don't crank

back up

really great.

And so sometimes with the military, I

will

hand

them

the

hose

for them to do

it.

If they need to but that just depends.

I'm very cautious,

While the first few days were focused more on search and rescue, it wasn't

long before things started to switch over into supply distribution.

I think it was Sunday was when Things started to shift for supplies.

And I think it was the night before, I just can't remember.

Like I said, it's a little foggy, received a phone call.

I think it was Kim Freeman with Habitat had called and said that they had a

couple of aircraft that were wanting to come in and deliver some supplies.

And so I, my, philosophy is I'm a conduit, right?

I can let stuff flow through me, but I can't manage everything.

And I'm okay doing what I know how to do, which is keeping fuel in the tanks

and keeping up with, the trucks that come through to do that and fueling aircraft

and then managing the airfield side with, if people come in just dealing with,

making sure the airfield side is safe.

But I didn't, I I couldn't take on doing relief work, and so I told

Kim, I said, I am okay with you having supplies come in, but that's

not something is in my wheelhouse.

And so if you want to take the bull by the horns and you want to, wrestle

that thing into making it work for you.

That's fine.

But I can't do the release that I can keep the aircraft safe

and keep the people coming out to the aircraft safe, but I can't,

I

can't

do both.

Devin makes a good point here, and I think it's worth hearing again.

So let me replay it for you.

my, philosophy is I'm a conduit, right?

I can let stuff flow through me, but I can't manage everything.

And I'm okay doing what I know how to do

I know for me, when I'm faced with a big problem, when I see my community

hurting, my gut reaction is to try and figure out a solution to everything

and help everybody at the same time.

That just isn't possible.

I don't have the skills or the resources to help everyone, no

matter how badly I might want to.

Devin had his responsibilities at the airport, and he knew that if he

tried to also be the one to organize relief efforts, those helicopters

would not be getting the fuel as quickly or efficiently as they should.

The way a community comes through something like this is by everyone

focusing on what they can do, and doing that to the best of their ability.

You might not be able to work a chainsaw, but maybe you can bring

lunch to the people who are.

But if we all try to do everything, nothing is ever gonna get completed.

Habitat did an awesome job.

They just stepped up to the plate.

It really, and what they're designed to do, they aren't really.

A relief organization for gathering supplies and delivering supplies.

They really are like build a

house

for

people type

of

thing,

And then the resale store I think is what most of those folks were a part of.

And so they had some trucks, they had some staff, and they worked

and they worked really hard.

Really hard to get everything.

I mean from the morning to the evening and by the time she was done they

had 32 pages of legal notepads with volunteers that had Will been willing or

had

already

come

out

Wow I remember the facebook post going out about asking saying they

desperately needed volunteers at the airport and then Maybe two hours later.

They're like we don't need

volunteers.

Yeah, she had so many people just poured out and helped and, it was very

touching, to see the love, not only from the aviation side, seeing all

the aircraft because you know, when people pull in, that's their fuel.

That's their airplane.

That's their money that they're pouring out.

And then you see all the stuff that pours out and somebody else, provided

that, somebody else provided the, water, the diapers heaters coats

whatever is coming out of that airplane.

So that came from private individuals or from corporations or from whoever,

So that was really neat to watch and see so many people that I think there

was over 500 and I can't remember exact numbers over probably 550 aircraft that

came through and then over probably 100 to 150, 000 pounds of stuff

that was just what they could record

after they

started recording,

Which was a couple of days in.

As horrible as the hurricane has been to Western North Carolina, it

has also been incredible to watch people come together to help out.

Especially when they ended up putting their own lives at risk to help.

Which was definitely the case with the two people whose plane caught fire.

fire on their way to deliver supplies to the airport.

Some of you may have seen the photos going around on Facebook showing the plane

sitting on the runway engulfed in flames.

There were a lot of different stories going around about what happened.

But like everything that was going on at the airport that week, Devin was there

and he can give us the whole story.

It was on fire on final.

And so we don't know exactly what happened.

We can.

We can guess, maybe it was a ruptured fuel line that had occurred.

It was literally dripping aluminum about 200, 300 feet before it ever

hit the

ground.

They were on final on a descent, and so they weren't like pointed

straight down at the ground.

They were like a good, They were coming in at a good angle of attack.

And so when they hit, they couldn't see the runway from what I understand.

Cause their cockpit

had

smoke all in

it

and they had some fire coming up between the two pilot and co pilot.

They had very minor burns as far as I know, like

nothing.

sent

to the

hospital or anything, just minor burns.

But they were able to, once it hit the ground, it broke the nose wheel off.

And so that's what probably saved them is some of the folks at the

airport were talking about how it probably grind that aircraft to a stop

quicker than

having

breaks on, and so they were able to get the canopy up and

both of them got out safely.

And then.

It, engulfed and then, nothing like exploded

like, you know, A

bomb, but It was definitely a

fireball yeah,

and so it took about an hour from the crash to When we had it cleared and people

were taken off again, so no fatalities.

So that Sadly that was, their,

only aircraft.

I don't think they had insurance on it, so they lost a complete loss.

Very sad.

While we are in the business of clearing up some of the different stories that were

circulating around Facebook, we should also clarify what exactly was going on

with FEMA's presence at the airport.

I know personally, I saw people saying FEMA was doing nothing,

others saying FEMA had taken control of everything, and nobody seemed

to know exactly what was going on.

But again, Devin was there.

He's responsible for how things are running at the airport, so he can

hopefully clear some things up for us.

So I will say, for all intents and purposes, FEMA was

not

controlling

our airport at one point.

I think somebody got misconstrued there.

FEMA had sent some volunteer, not volunteers, but some contractors to help

us with what's called a PPR, which is a

Prior permission

request.

And so basically that lines people up into a slot, a time slot to be able to fly in

so that it stays safe that there was a day where we had 126 aircraft come in to drop

supplies and we had one come in on fire.

And another one had a flat tire and so to be able to get the airfield back in a safe

to be able to operate it safely, we needed to have a way to time the arrivals better.

And so that PPR really put a throttle on our airfield to where we could actually

get people coming in sequentially.

And so it got confused a little bit there.

I think we

got crossed

off

and said

FEMA

controlled, but the

reality was if something bad happened, you can call that person because you get

their phone number, you get their town number, you get their time slot and you

can, instead of having 20 airplanes flying around waiting to try to land when there's

a emergency low on fuel and potentially creating very dangerous situation.

What you do is you have them.

In that time slot, and you can call them and say, Hey, we

have an incident on the field.

Please don't leave

yet.

And so that, that

Yeah.

And as far as FEMA goes, I think for me the government isn't set

up to

be philanthropic.

They aren't set up to be some humanitarian aid organization, right?

And so I think the expectation from people oftentimes is different from the

reality because government is run by a lot of, there's a lot of regulations and

red tape that government has to abide

by.

Once they set a.

a way of functioning in place, they have to abide by that.

That's their parameters.

And so I think, that, that creates, challenges, and especially

in people's brains, they're like the government in here.

And so I just, like I can't answer for anybody, I just know for where I was at.

But they did send people to help, for what we needed, which was to be able

to have people there for our PPR.

And they also, the people that came there also were there to just

anything I needed, they helped with.

So at one point I had to send all the martialers that had been there for days,

like Kyle Hankinson was like leading the crew there for three days straight.

He worked there,

No pay, just

out

there

to help, with a bunch of other guys.

And I was able to send them on because I had those folks with

the PPR and and we'd rotate them.

And one of the guys, they would marshal the airplanes in that

were delivering supplies and then they'd help offload the airplanes.

And the group that was contractors there did an amazing job and

really became pretty successful.

It's such good friends with so many people that came out and helped.

It says a brother is born for adversity.

I

think there's

a lot of truth in that because, the Bible speaks to that, and so when we

go through difficult times, you find out, you, you find out who your friends

are,

And you make good friends.

Devastation and loss causes a lot of pain.

And whenever there's pain, people tend to start to question, well, how

can the universe be run by a good and loving God when things this awful

are happening to me and around me?

I asked J.

R., one of the pastors at Element Church, and who you might remember from

episode one of this podcast, to sit down and give us an answer to the question,

where was God in Hurricane Helene?

Yeah, it's always a difficult question.

for, Believers who, have a good understanding of the Word of

God, we realize that, we live in a world marked and broken by,

sin and rebellion against God.

we have an understanding that, in this life there will be adversity,

Jesus says that we will have trouble, we will face, difficulty but it's

hard for some people to understand, especially when you're going through it.

I was part of a group text message, after the storms and the

reality of all the devastation.

You know, it was, made national news and just, an awareness really all

across the country of how devastating that storm was to, Western North

Carolina and the mountain villages.

in that text message, there was someone who's a professing

atheist and he asked the question.

Where was y'all's loving God, in this hurricane?

one of the, one of the other people that were in that, she

responded almost immediately.

And I was, I was struck by how quickly she responded.

she said, he's here.

And I knew, of course, just being part of a group of people that had been trying to,

minister to those impacted by the storm.

I was already aware of, the, hand of God at work.

the goodness of him showing up in and through people.

And I think that's just, a difficult reality to come to

terms with, but that's the truth.

it's a broken world right now.

that's hard to endure.

but the goodness of God is still present in it.

I think about the psalmist says that we talking about humanity, we

are fearfully and wonderfully made.

And, I think about, when I think about that, I think the fearful part is our free

will, our ability to, rebel against God, our ability to see, the man who's been

beaten and robbed and left on the road for dead to see that need and walk around it.

Where we can.

Walk to it.

And to me, we're wonderfully made.

we have the free will to not do the right thing, but because we are created in the

image of a good God, that goodness in the face of difficulty and suffering has

the opportunity to rise to the surface and be fleshed out in and through us.

If you just view the suffering from a distance, it's easy to say there's no God.

But for those who enter into that suffering with hands to help, there's

a clear awareness that God is aware of what's going on and that he's at

work in the midst of that brokenness to bring healing and, restoration.

And, so yeah, that's a good piece of advice.

where's God?

He's here.

Come and see, come in and serve the people who are hurting and broken and you will

feel his presence and you will see, the miraculous nature of how he works, even

in a world that has rebelled against him.

Yeah, I mean for me, I think when it all started that first evening, which it was

so crazy It was like the first evening felt like several days but There was

a point where I just said I never felt this in my life, but I felt god's arms

just

wrap

around me like it was just touching like I just Almost like it's gonna be okay, And

everything that happened, you just took one foot and put it in front of the next

and you dealt with what came your way.

And I looked at, a couple of things, I looked at the airport as a conduit,

and I, it's, Flow, I didn't expect what was flowing through it to flow through

it,

but allowing that to flow

was

my goal, for the time that it needed to be there.

So the goods and supplies that were coming in.

I just knew, there's a timeframe for people when they have their

eye on a situation before their eye gets diverted to something else.

And so that's pretty critical during that time

to

get

what

you

need,

And to communicate what your needs are, cause you could get water until

you're blue in the face, but you

might

need

a chainsaw,

Fuel, a warm jacket.

Like a tent, and so that's where my heart was to keep encouraging

Habitat to, cause they did such an amazing job, and so I think

that

was

pretty critical,

For our community is to get what it was needed at that time.

And so I'm thankful.

I'm thankful to be a part of it.

you know, we all had

pieces.

to play in this event, and everybody was a piece of that puzzle.

It was like, it's not a me, it's a,

we,

and ultimately

it was him,

That made it happen.

Cause those details that had to come together at the ninth

hour, just, I watched over and over again, just work out.

And I believe truly it was the Lord just allowing things to flow

Where was God in Hurricane Helene?

He was here.

He was in the hearts of the people who were helping, and

the people who were hurting.

Christ tells us that we are going to face trouble, but he also tells us

that we aren't going to face it alone.

Things are never going to be exactly the same as they were before the

hurricane, and the recovery process is really just getting started,

especially in places like Chimney Rock.

It's gonna take years to rebuild some of those areas, but none

of us are facing this alone.

we have each other, and we have a very present and living God who

invites us to walk alongside Him through every part of our lives.

And we can be a blessing, not just to the people inside of our community,

but also to the people outside, the people further west who got

hit really hard by this hurricane.

I mean that I would say, for me, the part that I'm really grateful for is

that not only did the supplies help our

community

locally and it was pretty critical at the beginning getting supplies

because roads and everything were very difficult to traverse.

But it also went up into many different regions

in

North Carolina,

like our area, North Carolina, up into Black Mountain I think it went

up some up in the Swannanoa and all around and so that was really

amazing to watch, like this thing transformed from, who would have known,

The devastation and the horrible

conditions that would occur from this one storm.

you know, The outpouring of people trying to help was

incredible.

It's

absolutely incredible.

And I'm probably not giving everybody credit that's due credit

because, man, so many people.

Our finance department was great.

Dealing with my boss, the county manager.

He was awesome.

He came out.

Multiple times and checked and,

We were in communication there.

The emergency management director was awesome.

Frankie Hamrick got us the generator to be able to actually get the fuel going again

so that we could actually fuel people who were out there doing the rescue work

with helicopters and everything else.

And then yeah it was Camp Electric showed up.

to be able to get us hooked in to the system, just people showed up, and showed

out and really went above and beyond.

Just trying to help it work.

my son, Tristan, he was there for a good portion of this.

And so it just I didn't get a lot of sleep.

So him being there was just a huge encouragement to me and help, at times

he would take my phone and take notes for me so that I could go back and

make sure I wasn't missing anything when I would think of something.

Yeah.

Cause, my phone was blowing up, like I couldn't keep up with it all.

I couldn't keep up with my emails, I couldn't keep up with hardly anything,

but it was just putting out whatever fire was in front of me, and making sure I put

somebody into place to take care of that if there was a need that was arising.

Then Jonathan came out at one point they, Tristan stayed with me overnight for quite

a few nights and then Jonathan did and, Maddie was there With Mandy a lot and

helping with the habitat side of things.

So it was a blessing to have my family around.

My dad and mom came out multiple times just to be there.

My uncle even came out, and it was just yeah, it was good.

Even though I wasn't able to go home, home came to me, even my sister and her family

came out and my brother in law came out.

Greg Robertson.

Shout out.

Helped out too on the ramp.

Just a huge blessing with marshalling and everything else too.

Incredible.

Hmm.

I'm grateful for them, I think many different areas, I think you watch

down in Shreveport when the hurricane hit down there years and years ago,

people didn't band together or help each other, but I think in our area,

you really see the outpouring of people who genuinely care for their neighbor.

And not perfectly but by and large,

people

show up

and people give and people, neighbors help neighbors, and I think

that I'm proud of our community.

I'm grateful for it.

I think that's where God shows

up.

He's the hands and the feet that walk

over

and

check on a neighbor.

He's the hands and feet that pick up something that when a neighbor's

house gets flooded with sewage from a line, because their house is lower

than their sewer, their septic lines.

He shows up in the love that pours out in our community by those that live here.

And yeah, I think it's a picture of who God is.

Bad things happen, and that's always going to be the case because we live in a

fallen

world,

And it's not going to be healed until,

The

Lord says

so,

Completely.

But our healing through Christ can bring the ability to look outward instead of

inward.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Small Town Big God, and remember,

you don't have to wait until your neighbor's house floods before you walk

over and show them that God loves them.

A disaster like this creates a lot of needs, and I'm proud to see that

Small Town Friendly was willing to step up and meet those needs.

you also walk past people every day who need help in one form or another.

It just isn't as apparent as a tree falling on their house.

So keep your eyes open, and thank you for being a part of Small Town Friendly.