Ashley Furniture store fire

9 Comments

1. 

   kelleyfurniture February 6, 2008

   My god….It will be so dangerous, I think you should look for the reason behind fire as early as possible and post it in this blog.

   God Bless You,
   Thanks!!

   Reply
2. 

   Christy November 8, 2007

   I also drove near the fire at Ashley Furniture the other night and my comment is about the police. Do they know what they are doing or is it just a crapshoot? We were in the turning lane to turn left onto Louisiana (the opposite side toward Haywood Rd). The police were letting people turn right onto Louisiana on the side where the fire was, but they made us do a U-turn and told us we couldn’t go onto Louisiana. How does this make sense?

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3. 

   Jamunca November 8, 2007

   Just to clarify, I drove eastbound down Patton Avenue with absolutely no problem at 10 p,m. And obviously, there was no traffic westbound. So if I had no problem driving by the scene (which was still very much active at 10 p.m.), then what’s WLOS’ excuse?

   WLOS did their live remote an hour later. I don’t see why we shouldn’t expect more from them. Remember when they had video of that Candler house in flames and a burning guy stumbling out? My god, they must’ve used the first 10 minutes of each broadcast to air that thing on a loop. So, what in the world stopped them from filming this fire?

   If they’re gonna be a "leader" in informing the public (as first seen on WLOS ring a bell?) then they need to take advantage of the situation and show the damn thing. I’m not made at you Chef, just coping with how god-awful our TV news is in WNC. It’s the one thing they can do better than the paper – show moving images – and all we get is smoke billowing into the night sky. Good grief.

   Obviously, people wanted to see the fire or they wouldn’t have shown up en masse.

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4. 

   Jamunca November 8, 2007

   Hail to the Chef,

   The C-T reported that hundreds of people came out to watch the blaze. And besides, traffic going downtown was not blockaded. There was plenty of room in a parking lot on the other side of the road to set up. But they didn’t do that.

   Lookit, if the C-T can get a photographer in close and personal to snap some photos, surely WLOS could’ve picked a better vantage point. If you saw the broadcast, I think you’d agree with me.

   As for Heroes. I wasn’t a big fan of Season 1 – granted, I started watching late and got caught up by watching the episodes online. But I think this season has been much more interesting, especially Hiro in the past. I will say that Heroes pales in comparison with the best show on TV – I speak of course of Friday Night Lights – but I’ve found that Heroes season 2 is much better than season 1 so far.

   And more on point, my wife joked that the graphics person should’ve redacted the Asheville location on the Ashley Furniture sponsorship.

   Seriously, you couldn’t make that up if you tried. I wish I was taping the show.

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5. 

   Star November 7, 2007

   Omg Jamunca that’s great!

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6. 

   Hail to the Chef November 7, 2007

   Also, anyone who enjoys season 2 of Heroes cannot be trusted!

   That show is FREAKING AWFUL this season.

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7. 

   Hail to the Chef November 7, 2007

   I had to drive home that way last night.

   No one was allowed any where NEAR the fire, on either side of the street.

   They had all of patton shut down for about three blocks.

   It sucked, I had to drive a good 3 miles out of my way to get home.

   But yeah, no way anyone could just "Set up across the street.

   There had to be at least thirty emergency and police vehicles and the entire area was blocked off.

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8. 

   zen November 7, 2007

   man, you’re a one-person newsblog!

   Reply
9. 

   Jamunca November 6, 2007

   Jason, thought you might like this hilarious "irony" from last night’s WLOS report. My wife caught it, and I now pass it on to you and your faithful readers.

   First off, some backstory. I had just gotten done watching a terrific episode of Heroes when I got the munchies. So, I zipped off toward the Taco Bell on Patton Avenue. Just as I cleared the last hill (I was travelling from Candler), I spotted quite a scene. A reddish glow and a sea of flashing emergency lights. Well, I skipped on the Taco Bell, but I did drive by the blaze (couldn’t resist rubbernecking).

   Anyballs… back home, my wife and I watched WLOS. First some critiques. They gave the opening "live at the scene" report about a minute’s worth of reporting. The fire chief came on and said a few things, and the reporter then said the scene felt like something "we" experienced in Charleston. The reference was entirely lost on me – I’ve since gone back and read about the Charleston fire – but a little context would’ve been nice.

   The worst part about the coverage wasn’t that they gave it so little play at the top of the broadcast (seriously, I’ve seen missing pets get more air time)… No, the worst part was the location of the report. You couldn’t even see the fire or the emergency workers from where they set up. The best they could offer was a pan to show the smoke billowing into the night sky. Seriously? They couldn’t set up a camera on the far side of the street and get some video of the fire remnants? If the Citizen-Times can get a photo gallery, then surely WLOS could get even a glimpse of the burnt/burning ruins.

   So… the "irony." Just before WLOS went to its first commercial break, they did their usual "this segment is sponsored by…"

   Only, the graphic they showed… You guessed it… Ashley Furniture.

   And lo, the inadvertant comedy gods did rejoice.

   Reply