09/03/2026
August 24, 2026 - KW Sparta Fire
Tones set at 10:27pm STRUCTURE FIRE 15N Main Street Sparta
Toned out Sparta, Cherry Lane and Glade Creek VFD along with Alleghany EMS and Alleghany Rescue
EMS advising to come to the rear of the building located off of Evergreen St - Apartments are on fire.
First truck to roll was Engine 502 and 503 was the second out truck just behind 502. The third truck was 501 about 3 minutes later and was instructed to find a fire hydrant to lay hose to 503.
502 pulled into the rear parking area at the rear of the structure and started pulling off hose to attack the fire through 2 small windows on the rear of the fire floor (second level) of the apartment. 503 truck was pulling hose to provide water to 502 and EMS told units about 2 people in need of rescue off the roof of the Backwoods Bean Building. Sparta VFD and one EMS member helped carry a ladder to the building and extend the ladder to the top of the roof where a Sparta member climbed up to assist the 2 people at the top of the roof - male and female. They said they were looking for another cat in the top apartment but could not find it. The female occupant had a cat in one hand and would not let it go but managed to climb the ladder down. Then the Sparta Fireman climbed back up the ladder to the Male occupant and helped him come down the ladder to the ground.
After assessing the growing fire, Sparta VFD chief asked Dispatch for Piney & Laurel Springs to be on standby for all units who were dispatched.
Sparta firemen were trying to make entry through the side wooden fire escape to the second level but due to high fire/smoke/heat in the room, they were not able to make entry but stayed on the stairs flowing water into the structure. .
Cherry Lane and Glade Creek were pulling up onto the scene and were advised to set up on the front of the building (side A) and put their efforts into getting water on the front side of the commercial building. Sparta VFD then asked for additional help/manpower and Dispatch got Independence VFD, Piney and Laurel Springs in route.
Sparta VFD asked the lower basement apartment occupant how to get in the upstairs apartment and was instructed that there was a door at the alleyway that led up to the second level. After finding the alley and the doors that led upstairs, Sparta VFD and members of Glade Creek VFD tried to make entry to the other second floor apartment but were met with high heat and heavy smoke conditions. At that time, we could see that the fire breached the roof and made the call to pull out of the structure's interior and went to only defense. We then set up a truck at the rear of Evergreen St with a deck gun to flow water into the rear window.
Jason Reavis, with Wilkes Emergency Services & Alleghany Rescue Squad, reached out to Sparta VFD chief and offered assistance in getting additional departments from the Wilkes area. He was able to get Austin, Traphill, Ronda with additional tankers, just in case the Town water supply goes down, and 2 ladders from Elkin & Pleasant Hill.
Galax, who was at Glade Creek station covering calls, was asked to come to the scene with their trucks and manpower also at this time.
At the front of the building (A side) Glade Creek Ladder 7 was up, hooked to the hydrant at Farmers Hardware and working from the 21/18 corner but could not get all the way up due to the traffic light above the ladder - this was hindering them to get water exactly where it was needed but they were still flowing a master stream and covering the buildings to the South of the fire building. Cherry Lane and Glade Creek had members at the front of the KW office and the Alleghany Cable office with hand lines flowing water back at the rear of the structure where the apartments were burning. Sparta Ladder 505 was set up on the corner of the A/D side of the fire building and water was flowing - the truck was hooked to a hydrant located next to the Old BP.
Independence Members went up the stairs to the upper apartment to look for fire but could not make entry very far due to falling roofing. Other Sparta, Piney & Galax firefighters took ladders up onto the Backwoods Bean building to go to the 3rd floor apartment area to fight the fire. Firefighters on the roof relayed back that they needed more line so we took lines from the Wet Rescue truck and ran them up onto the roof to reach back to the rear of the building area and they hooked up to the North hydrant to supply a water source. Members of Cherry Lane, Glade and Sparta worked to flow water into the KW/Cable offices but the roof conditions were changing overhead and a safety officer advised that we need to pull back and exit the structure.
Piney and Laurel Springs set up their truck at the rear of the building (C side) for the Pleasant Hill Ladder truck to be set beside them and they were going to provide a water supply from the 18S hydrant.
Once all 3 ladders (L7, 505 and Pleasant Hill) were up and flowing water, the fireload was greatly reduced but still was working its way through the building towards the A side of the structure. The Rescue Squad was able to get their drone up so we could have a birdseye view and thermal capabilities to see how the Master Streams were doing. This was a great tool to use to see where we needed to direct the master streams to knock down the high heat areas.
One fireman was injured during the night - a section of hose flowing to Ladder 7 of Glade Creek burst, the hose whipped around to take out the legs of a firefighter - he was taken to get checked out with a hurt shoulder/arm.
When Elkin Tower 20 arrived, we took the time to move some trucks and hose lines so they could back into the area and set up in front of the building for full access to the roof of the structure. Tower 20 made quick work with flowing a high volume of water and was able to place it where it was needed at a great advantage point in the front center of the structure.
Departments started to clean up and pack up around 05:30AM. SAVFD stayed on site until around 06:30AM before clearing but was called back about 5 times for rekindling of the fire. Our last dispatch for a rekindle was Tuesday at 9:00PM.
Takeaways -
1. This fire was extremely difficult to access when first on scene - limited openings and large brick walls made it a big oven.
2. The Town of Sparta said we flowed around 300K gallons of water - most likely off of the same town water line. There was some pressure drop reported but we never lost water.
3. The Fire started on the second level floor apartment at the rear of the structure - cooking/grease fire is what was said to be the start of the blaze unofficially.
Mike Parlier, 510 - Chief SAVFD
