ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Dennis Berry considers himself one of the lucky ones.
The manager of McCarthy Tire Service's Asheville, N.C., location is living at the business as his community — like many others across six states from Florida to the Southern Appalachians in Virginia left devastated by Hurricane Helene — rallies to brave the aftermath.
His home in rural Zirconia — about 35 miles south of Asheville — is still standing, but it's not safe to be there. Water washed out the soil from under the foundation about 10 feet in, and the mountain edge off the back of his home is collapsing.
He didn't know that when he and his 13-year-old daughter, Samantha, returned home in the eerie darkness around 5 a.m. on Sept. 28 to catch a few hours of much needed shut-eye.
"It's not dangerous when you don't know about it," he quipped recently as he recalled the events of a long weekend that began around 5 a.m. Sept. 27 when they drove through the heavy wind and rain, noting the blown transformers on either side of Interstate 26 casting blue flashes of light into the black sky as they made their way to the shop.
A customer needed access to his dump truck. And when disasters such as a hurricane strike, businesses such as McCarthy Tire become first responders in the sense that power companies, rescue workers and other safety forces depend on them to keep the vehicles crucial to rescue and relief efforts on the road.
"We consider ourselves an emergency service provider," Scott Estes, regional operations manager for McCarthy Tire Service, said. "If a power company pops a tire, they can't go fix that power line."
A cold front ahead of the hurricane that brought severe thunderstorms and flooding spelled trouble. The already saturated ground was unstable, and when the hurricane hit, it "was like throwing gasoline on a fire," Estes said.
Safety became the priority. "We struggled to make contact with our teammates because cell towers were down. We made sure everyone was safe, nothing else mattered," he said.
Estes, who oversees 11 McCarthy locations in North and South Carolina, said the company has shifted resources from eastern parts of the states such as Raleigh and Greensboro. Power companies from Ohio and Canada heading to the hurricane-ravaged communities had contacted the family-owned and -operated commercial tire company to make sure tire service is available if needed.