Randy, a full-sized rescue dummy used by station personnel for training became a mute witness as a tornado peeled off the top of the building like a pop-top can of dog food, then leveled three of the four cinder block walls Tuesday afternoon.
On Wednesday, he sat basking in unexpected sunlight, seemingly oblivious to the chaos around him. Nearby, the fire trucks that provided shelter for eight people in the building sagged beneath the weight of debris as station chief Andrew Hawkins chatted with neighbors about what to do next. The Autryville Fire Department is “semi-operational,” he said Wednesday morning.
"What we need to do now is have a place to work out of," Hawkins said. For the time being, the 30-person fire station would most likely work out of the Town Hall, with a nearby business offering shelter for the town's lone remaining undamaged truck.
"We sure can't operate here," he said, glancing at the scrambled mass of bricks and insulation behind him. "It'll be a few days before it sinks in just what happened to us.
What happened was a quick-developing tornado with top winds estimated by the National Weather Service of 110 mph that rolled across the Cumberland-Sampson county line and took aim at the quiet town of about 200. It narrowly missed the downtown block along old N.C. 24, slashing quickly across a few blocks of homes, a mobile home park and the fire station before racing out of town.
A few minutes later, emergency management officials said, the storm leveled an abandoned turkey barn near the community of Bearskin. It then crossed U.S. 421 north of Clinton and continued to the northeast.
Many of the people cleaning up Wednesday said there was no indication a storm was approaching.
"I can tell you, it came like it was shot out of a cannon," said Lattie B. Faircloth, cruising a golf cart through the debris-choked streets. "I was looking out the window at my house, and here it came. I had time to yell and hit the floor, that was it."
Faircloth wasn't injured, and his home suffered cosmetic damage. However, the tornado cartwheeled a 32-foot by 24-foot metal shed in his back yard, wrapping it in some snapped-off pines a block away.
"It ain't a shed no more," he quipped.
Only a few injuries were reported, none serious. Susan Holder, the Sampson County assistant manager and public information officer, said there were no major injuries, and officials were beginning Wednesday to assess the damage. Damage estimates are not yet available.
“I think, obviously, there were bruises and cuts and scrapes, but no one was transported,” Holder said.
The American Red Cross reported it is assisting four families. North Carolina's Baptist Men also arrived and began helping families with yard cleanups.
Gov. Roy Cooper called Autryville Mayor Larry Autry on Wednesday morning to discuss the damage, and the mayor said the town was receiving help from the state's Emergency Management Office.
Many of the people who would have been injured were still at work. Terry Spell, whose yard was covered with toppled trees, was working at his office on N.C. 24 when "the sky went dark and the lights started blinking and flashing," he said.
Larry Stalnaker had even less warning. He was at the fire station when a fellow firefighter said, "It looks like that cloud is funneling.
"We only had a few seconds," Stalnaker said. "Everybody scrambled up under the two big trucks just as it hit."
Power crews worked through the night into Wednesday afternoon restoring electricity. Businesses that didn't lose power in the storm were cut off as crews inspected the lines.
"We came down to check on damage, then stayed to make hamburgers to give to the emergency crews," said Debbie Jones of Big Daddy's Grill. "About the time we got a dozen hamburgers done, they shut the power off.
"It's a mess, I tell you what," she added. "But things like this bring out the best in people. White, black, Hispanic, everyone is pitching in today. We're all family in Autryville.
In Robeson County, the same storm system damaged about a half-dozen buildings in the Lumber Bridge and Parkton areas, and some trees were knocked down. Most were metal storage sheds, but Sandy Grove Church also had damage, said Stephanie Chavis, the county's emergency management director.
She said one large building storing farming equipment was heavily damaged.
“It just looked like somebody had dropped a demolition ball on top,” she said Wednesday.
But, she said, no one was injured by the storm in Robeson County.
Chavis said the storm's path appeared to have traveled from Sandy Grove Road in Lumber Bridge toward Davis Bridge outside of Parkton. Both communities are south of Fayetteville.
Chavis said meteorologists in Raleigh on Wednesday morning were still determining whether the storm was a tornado or a microburst, which can spawn from thunderstorms.
Staff writer Andrew Barksdale can be reached at abarksdale@fayobserver.com or 486-3565. Staff writer Chick Jacobs can be reached at cjacobs@fayobserver.com or 486-3515.
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