TAR HEEL — When a business owner from Maples, Florida, reached the area and was detoured by Hurricane Florence, neither he nor the Tar Heel Volunteer Fire Department knew they would meet.
They did, and the result was one of many positives from a very bad storm.
Florence hung around between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach for about three days, dumping two to three feet of water across Bladen County.
So as Dave Sirko tried to make his way through to his original destination, he eventually decided he’d just take the trailer of supplies he was hauling to a volunteer fire department. Stuck in Bladen County, the people he asked were with the Tar Heel department.
“He bragged on how North Carolina came to help during their time of need when they were recovering from a hurricane,” Tonia Knepper told the Bladen Journal in an email. She’s a firefighter and EMT with the department. “He felt compelled to do the same in regards to North Carolina during their time of recovering from Hurricane Florence.”
She said he arrived with a truck and trailer loaded down with goodies to donate.
“He had supplies that consisted of tarps and nails, two pallets of water, paper towels, contractor trash bags, batteries, and totes full of nonperishable foods. He was indeed a helping hand in time of need,” she wrote. “Supplies that he donated have been and are continuing to be used in the community. Even though the storm has passed, recovery continues to be an on going process.”
During his visit, Sirko learned about a truck Tar Heel was putting together. He took measurements and is going to lend a hand with that, too.
Dave Sirko is flanked by the Tar Heel Volunteer Fire Department’s (from left) Matthew Sturgill, Tonia Knepper, Assistant Fire Chief Kris Knepper, Fire Chief David Hunsinger Tar Heel fire Chief, Amber Knepper and Carolyn Mohr.