Lake Lure, NC stands by fire chief who threatened arrest of helicopter pilot on rescue mission: official

A volunteer helicopter pilot was threatened with arrest by the local fire cheif after rescuing people stranded on a mountainside in Lake Lure, North Carolina, last week. In the wake of criticism from many regarding the hurricane recovery efforts, a city official has said that fire department was "doing what they were supposed to do at the time." The pilot was told by the fire chief that he was getting in the way of official operations.

Initially, the National Guard made an attempt to rescue Susan and Mike Coffey on Sept. 28, but the Guard’s chopper was too large. Then when private citizen and veteran pilot Jordan Seidhom was in the process of rescuing Susan the next day, he was threatened with arrest by Lake Lure Assistant Fire Chief Chris Melton if he went back to rescue Mike. Seidhom had also left his son, a volunteer firefighter and high-school junior, behind with Mike, as the helicopter could only carry two due to ground conditions. The couple was left separated, only being able to reunite later, and Seidhom had to go against Melton in order to go back for his son. Many called for Melton to be fired, but he is still with Lake Lure.

Lake Lure Town Manager Olivia Stewman, spoke to Queen City News after the incident, and justified Melton threatening Seidhom with arrest. When Stewman was asked about if the fire department did what was appropriate, she responded, "Yes. They were doing what they were supposed to do at that time." The local outlet was not able to get a response from Assistant Chief Melton.

Reporter Jody Barr of Queen City News asked Stewman what happened. Stewman replied, “The personal aircraft that landed was not only unauthorized but also, they provided no notification that they were coming. And that did pose a potential risk to ongoing operations with search and rescue. And then, you know, also just wasn’t safe for them to be there as regular citizens, especially since we didn’t know who they were or what they were doing there.”

The city official claimed that there was an official flight restriction and added, “Any aircraft that would have—that should have gone through there should have gone through incident command as well. I just wanted to note that.”

However, Barr pressed Stewman, asking “The FAA website shows that there was no flight restriction in the area at that time. Do you agree with that?”

Stewman said she was not sure that there had been restrictions in place at the time and added that Seidhom did not notify anyone that he was coming. Seidhom had said when pressed by Melton on Sept. 28 that he had spoken with local law enforcement, though not with fire department personnel.

Barr followed up, “Do you know whether Mr. Seidhom spoke with the people in charge at the Rutherford Airport? The airport did not have power at the time, but the airport told Mr. Seidhom if he was going to conduct volunteer search and rescue operations, those were the only aircraft they were fueling and they sold Mr. Seidhom fuel to go in and sold him fuel to come back under that condition?”

Stewman was unaware that the Seidhom had gone to the airport at all. Barr noted that the trip to the airport would qualify as an effort to coordinate with the authorities in the area. Stewman said in response, “If that was coordinated, then it was not relayed to us. I will say that.”

During the course of the interview, a man who looked like Melton poked his head in the office where Stewman was, but was frantically waved out of the room by another person.

Barr also asked, “The final question I have, the Town of Lake Lure has no regrets about how Mr. or Mrs. Coffey were treated that day when a pilot showed up to help save their lives on the side of that mountain in Lake Lure?”

Steman replied, “No, I want to reiterate again that our personnel, our public safety personnel, were doing what they were instructed to do at that time. They were doing their jobs, trying to save lives and they have been out there doing that since – I mean, they’re doing that all the time.”