What’s in the news: Fire truck crashes on Patton, and some other stuff

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

1

WLOSer Heather Graf, wearing a gawdawful pink suit jacket befitting a crumpet-munching 50-year-old Manhattan matron, helmed the news Saturday. Here’s what she had:

Fire truck crashes
A fire truck responding to a “routine call” Saturday morning somehow lost control at the corner of Patton Avenue and Rumbough and took out three utility poles, a couple of cars in a car lot, then turned on its side. The three firefighters in the truck weren’t badly hurt, WLOSers said.

Fire chief Gary Cornett said this is the first serious accident an Asheville fire truck has had in more than seven years. The scuzzy-looking owner of the used car lot said he was devasted, and estimated damage at more than $100,000 to his business.

In the weather center…
Kareny Wynne told us it was rainy outside.

Trout fishing season opens
Kassandra Pride held a big fish in her hand for her teaser, then told us that fishermen hit trout streams today. She said the sport “reels in thousands of dollars” for the local economy. Oy.

In other news…
The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department honored the fourth anniversary of the death of Jeff Hewitt, a deputy killed while trying to serve commitment papers. Yesterday, there was a candlelight vigil and the tolling of a bell. Today, there was a walk/run in Skyland in Hewitt’s honor… WLOSers noticed my post about voter registration drives and interviewed Bruce Mulkey at the local headquarters for Barack Obama. Mulkey said crews have been registering lots of people to vote… And Asheville Hardware launched the Asheville Woodworking School at its downtown business. They’ve 2,000 square feet of space to teach you how to be a woodworker.