Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:

Question: Back in January, one of the Mills River Fire Department stations burned down. Have they ever determined what the cause of the fire was?

My answer: Irony?

Real answer: The North Carolina Office of the State Fire Marshal conducted this investigation, and it released the results to me Monday in a formal report. The fire occurred early Jan. 17 and was first noticed by an Amazon driver returning to the company’s facility in Mills River who saw heavy smoke coming from the building and flames inside, the report states.

The report likely will not satisfy anyone, as the cause of the blaze, which collapsed the roof, destroyed the interior of the block building and consumed a fire truck, is “undetermined.”

“The general area of origin was located at or around the apparatus bays near the ceiling level,” the report states. “The fire event is classified as undetermined with possible causes of electrical failure in the apparatus bays, Plymovent exhaust system failure, a fire originating at or around the engine, and an incendiary incident.”

The 3,888-square-foot building, built in 2004 and remodeled in 2024, comprised a four-bay apparatus storage area and an office/living space.

No one was injured in the blaze at Station No. 2, located at 100 Fanning Mills Road. 

The structure had undergone a remodel in December, the report states, noting that it consisted of “painting, drywall work, etc. The remodel work had all been done in the office/residential portion of the building with no work being done in the apparatus bays.”

The 20-page report offered a narrative between State Fire Investigator Taylor Marsh and Mills River Fire Department Battalion Chief Brandon Munsey that offered details on those possible fire causes listed above. Asheville Watchdog received an electronic version of the report, which included several redactions, including some that appear to be random.

Marsh had asked Munsey about any known issues with the building or its systems.

Let’s take a closer look at several of them:

Faulty exhaust removal system: “Chief Munsey stated there had been several issues with the building and building system in the previous weeks leading up to the fire,” the report states. “The first issue was with the Plymovent exhaust system located in the apparatus bays of the building. Chief Munsey stated a piece of the Plymovent system had recently malfunctioned causing the unnamed piece to ‘burn up.’ Plymovent had sent out a technician to evaluate the system and eventually replace the faulty piece of the system.”

The Plymovent system extracts exhaust and removes harmful fumes from enclosed spaces.

Bay heater problems: Chief Munsey stated they had experienced problems with one of the two bay heaters where the trucks were parked.

“The heaters are mounted at ceiling level in the apparatus bays and the heater mounted on the north side of the building above the brush truck had recently experienced problems,” the report states. “Chief Munsey stated that water had recently leaked through the roof causing a failure in the motherboard of the heater resulting in the motherboard burning up. A technician had come out and replaced the motherboard in the heater approximately two to three weeks before the fire event.”

Generator issues: “Chief Munsey stated that the generator for the fire department had also recently experienced problems,” the report said. “Chief Munsey stated that during Hurricane Helene, firefighters arrived at the fire station to standby and the station had lost power.”

Firefighters stated that the generator had turned on but was “surging the building’s electrical system causing the lights for the building to flash on and off,” the report continued. “Chief Munsey stated that the generator for the building is a 15 kilowatt generator that was originally installed when the building was built in 2004. Over the years, other systems were added to the building and to the generator causing the generator to become overloaded. Chief Munsey stated they were recently advised that the building needed a 40 kilowatt generator to accurately power the building in the event of a power loss.”

A “burning smell” in a fire truck parked in the bay the day before the fire: Munsey told the investigator “that a week before the fire event, the engine that was parked in the bay had been on a mutual aid call and had experienced total power failure twice on the same call. He stated the engine had been repaired by their local technician but could not speak specifically about what the problem was with the engine.”

“Chief Munsey also stated that the day before the fire, a member had backed the brush truck into the bays and when he got out of the brush truck after parking it, he noticed a burning smell but could never pinpoint where the smell was coming from,” the report continued.

The building’s overall electrical system does not seem to have been problematic. The building had underground electrical service, and “the meter was visually examined revealing no evidence of malfunction, internal heat development, or fire origin.

“The main circuit breaker panel was located on the interior of the west wall to the right ofthe single entry door,” the report continues. “The panel was visually examined and documented. There was no evidence of malfunction, internal heat development, or fire origin at the breaker panel.” 

Similarly, a natural gas meter showed no evidence of malfunction, internal heat development or fire origin, according to the report.

Surprisingly, the building apparently did not have an alarm system. 

“The structure was not equipped with an alarm monitoring system,” the report continues. “The building was equipped with security cameras that monitored the exterior of the building. The cameras were recorded to a local DVR housed within the building. The DVR was removed by the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office before the investigator’s arrival.”

The DVR was “damaged to the point of being unable to retrieve any data,” according to the report.

I don’t know about y’all, but I’m thinking it’s kind of amazing this fire station made it as long as it did.

Question: What has happened at the Pardee Urgent Care facility on Hendersonville Road in Fletcher? It has been temporarily closed now for at least a month or more. It used to be a joint collaborative facility between Pardee and Mission, and the building is still called the Mission Pardee Health Campus.

My answer: It’s almost like there’s some simmering resentment between our local hospitals, just lurking right beneath the surface.

Real answer: John Bryant, vice president of operations and support services for UNC Health Pardee, offered some background and an explanation.

“The Mission Pardee Health Campus includes two buildings, of which both Mission and UNC Health Pardee occupy spaces and have since 2013 when it opened,” Bryant said via email. “In addition to the Urgent Care facility mentioned by your reader, Pardee has also provided primary care and specialty services, including neurology, cardiology, and general surgery, on the Mission Pardee Health Campus in Fletcher for many years.”

So, about the closing.

“Recently, Pardee made the decision to pause operations at the Mission Pardee Health Campus in order to concentrate resources at its three other Urgent Care locations in Brevard, Hendersonville, and Mills River,” Bryant said. “Pardee has not made a decision as to when Urgent Care operations will resume at its Fletcher location, but continues to maintain its primary care and specialty services of neurology, cardiology, and general surgery at the Mission Pardee Health Campus.”

I’ll note the “Pardee Urgent Care” letters have been removed from the building.

I asked Pardee if the November opening of Mission Health’s South Asheville ER near the intersection of Hendersonville and Airport roads, a mile north of Mission Pardee, had anything to do with the decision to close its urgent care. Pardee did not directly answer that question. 

“Pardee’s primary care practices are available for many of the needs that patients may need when seeking care at an urgent care facility,” Bryant said. “Contact the Pardee primary care patient navigator at 828-694-8012 to schedule an appointment.”

For its part regarding the Mission Pardee operation, Mission Health spokesperson Nancy Lindell said, “The Mission parts of that campus — Vista Family Health, Mission Imaging, Pharmacy, etc., are all open and have been open.”

The Mission Pardee Health Campus, according to Henderson County property records, is owned by MH Mission Hospital LLLP, sits on 9.7 acres and has a tax value of $16.9 million.

Question: Your recent column on Helene’s debris along rights-of-way pointed out that that program is essentially over even though substantial amounts of debris remain throughout our region. But if an individual happens to have a hauling vehicle, for example a pickup truck or a modest farm dump truck or a trailer, and is able to load up his own vehicle with debris from his place, where can it be taken for appropriate disposal? Perhaps you might be able to pursue this question with some appropriate county officials about this.

My answer: I can just imagine that “modest farm truck” being like, “Oh, this load? It’s nothing. Not a problem at all. I’m happy to help. I’m just an old modest farm truck after all.” But secretly, it’s probably like, “I’m the baddest truck on the farm, baby! Whatcha got? Load me up. I can haul it all!”

Real answer: As I mentioned in that column last week, the deadline to apply for the Private Property Debris Removal Program was April 15. May 15 is the deadline to get all of your paperwork settled with that process.

So storm debris is still getting picked up.

Buncombe County spokesperson Lillian Govus said you can haul storm debris yourself.

“If folks are hauling things themselves, they should take vegetative debris to the Riverside Stump Dump,” Govus said via email. “Other items should go to the Buncombe County Landfill.

On its website, the Stump Dump says, “Our facilities accept: wood waste, pallets, green waste, along with any other clean wood.” It’s smart to check the landfill website first before loading up to make sure your materials will be accepted.

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Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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