Winds knock out power to hundreds Tuesday

Published 12:07 pm Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Tryon responds to 29 calls including a fire

A large tree fell on this house during the Tuesday, April 15 winds on Hidden Hill Road in Tryon. Resident Mary Prioleau said she had just walked out the house to leave for Tryon’s Town Council meeting when the approximate 70 ft. tree hit her porch and roof. (photo submitted by Mary Prioleau).

Just days after summer-like weekend weather, temperatures steadily dropped on Tuesday, April 15 and brought high winds that had departments such as the Tryon Fire Department busy with assistance, including downed trees and power lines and a structural fire.

Power was out in several Tryon areas, including almost 300 customers in the Lake Lanier area.

Beginning at 1:39 p.m., Tryon’s fire department responded to 29 calls on Tuesday alone, ranging from EMS assistance, trees and power lines down to a structural fire.

The fire was reported at 5:46 p.m. at 3910 Hwy. 176 West, where the caller advised a fire in the crawlspace under the house. Tryon arrived on scene and found a large tree with a live power line blocking the long driveway. Fire crews quickly Duke Power to cut the power so crews could cut the tree to get to the fire.

“Upon arrival fire units found a large tree with a live power line blocking the driveway so we had to get Duke Power to kill that line and cut the tree before we could get units up the drive,” said Tryon Fire Chief Joey Davis.

Tryon received mutual aid from Saluda, Columbus, the Polk County Fire Marshal and Polk County EMS at the fire, which ended with some structural damage but no injuries, according to reports.

The fire department believes the power line that got pulled down by the tree caused a fire underneath the house that impinged on the gas line feeding the fireplace since the residence has underground utilities, according to Davis.

Besides trees and power lines down, the fire department also responded to a resident on oxygen who needed assistance when the power went out. Many areas of the valley in Tryon and most of Lake Lanier were out of power Tuesday evening from downed power lines. There was a downed power line on Butter Street, which caused many of the power outages in the Lake Lanier area.

As of Wednesday at noon, there were still 299 Lake Lanier area residents still without power. Most of the Tryon customers were restored by Wednesday, although there were still a few customers still without power as of Wednesday, according to Duke Energy.