Support Crooked Creek VFD: Heroes of Old Fort

Hello from Old Fort, NC! Our little town has really been through it these last several months - while in the midst of a long recovery from major Helene damage, we then battled a wildfire January 29th-30th. High winds, drought, record low temps, and hurricane detritus lead to an aggressive and hard-to-control blaze. We are so relieved to report that our amazing local firefighters along with teams from neighboring towns and further (many of them volunteers) managed to save every single at-risk home and local business with no injuries!

Our business, Painters Greenhouse, has been here for 52 years. We at Painters are deeply connected to our town, with several generations of our community working and shopping at our family business over the years. The fire came within 300 yards of the business. Five members of our team had to evacuate their homes (as did one of our dearest customers). Even though we did our best to thoroughly soak as much area as we could with water, we went to bed Wednesday fully prepared to wake up to our beloved greenhouse burned or gone the next day. To see everyone's homes and our livelihood still standing, undamaged, the next morning was nothing short of miraculous.

We owe so much to the incredible, steadfast work of all involved - McDowell County volunteer firefighters combined forces with several other counties, along with the NC Forest Service, B.R.I.D.G.E. crews, personnel from the EOC and EMS, the sheriff's department and highway patrol!

But we want to especially thank the firefighters of the Crooked Creek Volunteer Fire Department, not only for their dedication to keeping this fire from doing major damage, but also for their swift and expansive support for our community after Helene (plus, their 'every-day' work to keep our community safe and supported from fires and other emergencies).

Financial support is the best way we know to help them - funding is always helpful for expensive equipment maintenance and additions needed to tackle future emergencies. Let's do what we can to make their incredibly challenging jobs a little easier! See below for details and instructions.

Help us support these heroes of our community!

~ Dana, Brooke & the Painters Greenhouse Team