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^ The fire truck and its crew also carried Fred Holt to
the hospital after the heat failed in his home. They dug out and
released the fire pumper truck at the Town Hall, a police car and
several cars stuck along Salter Path Road. They also traveled up
and down several streets, including Oakleaf Drive, to open them up.
In the meantime, Dan Sotir, an EI4T, obtained a four-wheel drive
jeep and removed-certain equipment and supplies from the ambulance
so that between his vehicle and the fire truck they could answer
rescue squad calls if necessary until the roads could be better
cleared for the ambulance.
Happily there was only one rescue squad call and that
was to Pine Knoll Townes where Mrs. Leo Jenkins had suffered an
attack that required her removal to a hospital. The ambulance, by
this time, had been freed, but since the roads were still impassable
for the most part, Natalie Hiltz and Jack Thompson, Tov/n Commissioners
and both EMT*s, were the only people able to get there to offer assis
tance .
The fire truck also answered a fire alarm set off when
a home smoke alarm became shorted, v/hich situation they corrected.
At the outset early Monday morning communications were
established v/ith Carteret County Communications Center so calls could
be relayed to the firemen via Sandy 'villiams who used a v/alkie talkie
from her home.
Civil Preparedness v^as activated by Mayor Haller. He
called several residents who he had reason to believe might have
problems. Only one appeared, hov/ever, and this was to the Walker
residence on Salter Path Fioad. The day before the storm the V;alker*s
pump had failed and they were v;ithout water; moreover, Herbert
Walker had been ill in bed v/ith the flu. Bob McAnaw, director of
Civil Preparedness, contacted Dan Sotir, who with Rob Roy McAnaw^
a physician assistant at Carteret General Hospital checked out Mr.
Walker and then shoveled a path from the house to the road. In the
meantime, Mrs. Margaret Upchurch, a next door neighbor, prepared a
kettle of hot water for the V/alkers so the3?' could at least have a
cup of tea. Since her doors v/ere frozen shut, Mrs. Upchurch climbed
through a basement windov/ and struggle through the snow drifts to
the house. She also v/as suffering from a severe headache, and Dan
Sotir brought her a bottle of Bufferin from his store, the Handy-
Pantry. Incidentally, the Walker’s found a bathtub will hold a
lot of snov;.
Stepping in to help also the Walkers v/as Otto Weis,
who lives across the road on Holly, thoughtfully came over on
V/ednesday and shoveled out their drivev/ay so they could get to town.
It takes all kinds of nice people to make a world I
Later that same Monday morning Bob McAnaw received an
urgent call from Mel V/ylie. The Wylies had visited the George
Faulkenbergs at Ocean Terrace on Sunday and upon leaving found their
car completely engulfed in snov; and too much to shovel out v/hile
the storm was at its height. They spent the night with the Faulken
bergs, but because they were on necessary medication it v/as e.ssential