BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The Black Mountain Public Safety Building, which houses the fire and police departments, desperately needs repairs, town officials said.
Black Mountain Police Chief Steve Parker admitted the building that was originally a grocery store 75 years ago has him worried.
“In some time in its history since public safety took over in this building, there was some wall buckling that occurred in the back wall where the fire quarters are and in where the firefighters bunk, where they sleep at night. And there was bracing put on that wall,” Parker said, pointing to the wall where the braces are attached.
“But over the course of the time, they realized they needed to do further engineering tests, which they did in 2011, 2012 and 2019, because they were seeing increased or enhanced wall buckling and floor buckling.”
The serious compromise has been on the fire side of the building, the chief said.
Now the problem is growing.
The building’s structure
The buckling walls are important to note because of the building’s bowstring truss roof, which is designed to sit on a bearing surface — in this case, the outer walls. There are no load-bearing walls inside.
“When you start talking about two walls buckling, this roof is a specific roof that if one part of the roof falls, it’s going to take out everything. Everything,” Parker said during a walkthrough of the building last week.
Some of the problems in the aging building have become more noticeable since Tropical Storm Helene hammered the area in late September.
“Since Helene, we have seen a significant change in the building structure, or we feel like there’s been significant changes,” the chief said, pointing to another wall that now shows signs of bowing.
“If one wall’s buckling, that’s, you know, there’s some things we can do structurally. But when you start talking about two walls buckling, if just one part of the roof goes, the whole thing goes.”
Parker pointed out places inside the building where some sections of the floor are as much as an inch lower than other parts, walls are cracked and tiles are coming off the bathroom wall.
“Run your foot right here. We did not notice this, nobody in here noticed it, before Helene. This was something that we noticed after Helene,” Parker said, pointing out an area of the floor that was buckled and rough.
“That east wall that we were talking about wasn’t buckling before but is now. That’s my office.”
Problems during Helene
During Tropical Storm Helene in September 2024, Black Mountain experienced catastrophic rainfall. The historic amounts of rain that fell led to catastrophic flooding, which caused significant damage to infrastructure and homes in the area. Residents faced blocked roads, supply shortages and unimaginable damage.
The Public Safety Building was damaged, too.
“So, during Helene, this area is where our generator is,” Parker said standing in the basement. “This is a natural spring that runs under here. There’s basically water that runs through here. What happened during Helene is that we flooded in the basement and our generator went out. So we operated in the dark for two entire days.
“We lost our generator, and we were having to basically operate, you know, blind for several days. Our computers went down, radios, cell phones. Of course, that happened to everybody. But with a public safety building, it’s a little different.”
Town Manager Josh M. Harrold said there are plans to acquire a new generator in the next few months.
But the problem in the basement isn’t just the generator. Equipment is stored there, and the department’s evidence locker is down there, too, where mold and mildew are now visible on the walls.
“Our evidence technician has to wear gloves and a mask to come down here and deal with the evidence because it’s in mildew, mold conditions,” Parker said.
After Helene
Engineers came out to survey the damage after the storm.
“They recommended that we do something to shore up the walls, and they told us six months, 12 months come up with a plan,” Parker said.
But the chief knows everyone is in storm recovery mode and money is scarce.
“It’s a challenge, especially with all the damage we have, on how do you prioritize what needs are there,” Parker said.
FEMA could opt to help.
“There was a lot of people along the river that had damaged structures. But when the river came through, it completely wiped them out. Why did it wipe them out? Because of the storm. With us, we had some structural issues prior to the storm. We don’t deny that,” Parker said.
“But they’ve increased since the storm, and it’s a matter of FEMA saying, ‘Yes, this is an increase from the storm’ or ‘No, we believe that this is just from the structure being old.'”
Harrold said the town hopes to get federal help.
“As we look to recovery from Hurricane Helene, this project, as well as many others, will be thoroughly examined, and the best path forward will be chosen,” Harrold said
Here are some “critical facts” the Black Mountain Police Department listed on its Facebook page:
- Aging infrastructure: The building was originally constructed 75 years ago as a grocery store, not designed for the specialized needs of public safety personnel.
- Ignored warnings: Engineers have recommended repairs to address foundation and structural issues three times — in 2011, 2012, and 2019 –yet these essential repairs have not been made. Recent storms have worsened these already-existing structural concerns.
- Roof hazard: The building features a bowstring truss-style roof. If part of the roof collapses, the entire structure could fall, posing a catastrophic risk to everyone inside.
- Flooding basement: The basement floods during every major storm, causing damage to vital records, equipment and evidence. Mold exposure has become an ongoing health risk for our public safety officers working under these hazardous conditions.
- Health risks: Public safety personnel are consistently exposed to mold in the basement, which could lead to long-term health problems.
- Power failures: During major storms like Helene, the generator failed, leaving officers operating in complete darkness while they continued to protect and save more than 450 lives.
- Falling ceiling tiles: During Helene, ceiling tiles collapsed in areas where firefighters typically sit. Had they been there, it could have resulted in serious injury. These tiles have not been fixed.
- Shifting foundation: Since Helene, the foundation has shifted significantly, creating noticeable gaps and uneven floors — this is most apparent in the fire kitchen area.
- Cracked walls: The walls are separating from the exterior, compromising the structural integrity of the building.
- Space limitations: Public safety staff are working in cramped, shared spaces with little room for essential equipment, making it difficult to operate effectively in emergency situations.
Tough decisions
“This wall is basically the other part that’s bowing out. But again, it doesn’t matter whether it’s this wall or that wall. If it can collapse the entire building, it doesn’t matter whether it’s my wall or somebody else’s wall,” Paker said, pointing to the wall in his office.
Something needs to be done, he said.
“Our town manager has been amazingly supportive. We have put in front of council for the past three years, a building study. We want to study our structures, our entire town and what we need to do to move forward,” the chief said.
“And council has made it one of their priorities. But money is money. When you only have a limited pot of money, oftentimes they have to make very, very tough decisions. Unfortunately, they have been unable to do the building study because they’ve needed to repair a roadway or do something with the parks or something else that was significant. They had to make tough decisions.”
Parker said during a town council retreat earlier this month, officials made the Public Safety Building a priority.
“Council identified the Public Safety Building as its No. 1 concern on top of all the other concerns that they have. Our Public Works Building is being remediated. It was completely flooded. That’s one of their top concerns. The golf course was completely destroyed. That’s one of their top concerns. So they have a lot of concerns.”
Parker described the Public Safety Building as being on a ship that could sink any day.
“These are real issues, real problems, and we dealt with these issues during the storm, but we just drove on. We just kept doing our job. But if we have a fire today or another flood and our basement floods and we don’t have a generator, that affects our service. If the building collapses and half of our public safety is in here and we die or get injured, that affects our service,” he said.
Options include shoring up the building, moving to another place or building a new facility.
“At this point, many options are on the table. We are in the early stages of addressing this situation. Hurricane Helene intensified and accelerated the deterioration of the building. We are also in the process of dealing with other damages from Hurricane Helene as our damage inventory submitted to FEMA exceeded $27 million,” Harrold said.
Parker acknowledged the funding issue.
“It’s how do you go about it. Nothing’s free, and we understand that there’s limited funds coming in and there’s only so much you can do,” he said.