BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C. — A year after Helene, the Broad River Volunteer Fire and Rescue Station is almost back to normal. The flood waters receded.
The water damaged equipment has been replaced, so has the rescue truck. Now, as the recovery process enters its final stages, Chief Brent Hayner said his attention is shifting toward preparing for the next disaster.
“Doing a lot of planning now for future things, things that we saw happen after Helene like the loss of power for four to six weeks,” he said.
The nonprofit, Footprint Project, hopes a solution is already in place.
In October 2024, in the immediate aftermath of the storm, Footprint Project worked with local organizations like Land of Sky Regional Council and the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association to source and distribute solar panels and batteries to provide self-sustaining power for shelters, food distribution centers and other sorts of hubs for the community.
Hayner said he used some to power his unflooded Shumont station further up the mountain while lending other systems to locals sheltering in place, including a woman with a medical condition requiring an oxygen machine.
Hayner said the woman needed power for the machine but getting her to a shelter in Asheville would mean having one or two of his firefighters tied up for the day. On top of that, she didn’t want to leave her home empty and vulnerable without any idea how long it would take to return.
“Initially, we started out with a generator that ran 8-10 hours we’d have to go up, send somebody up with gas which was kind of in short supply at the time,” Hayner said.
When the solar generators arrived, Hayner said the fire department managed to get a battery set up with two solar panels at her home, which kept the medical device and refrigerator powered for weeks until electricity was restored.
“It allowed her to stay at home instead of sending her to an already overwhelmed shelter,” he said.
Jamie Trowbridge, the program manager for Footprint Project in the region, said those are the kinds of solutions his organization aims to provide and now a year out from the storm, the mission is to ensure those resources are in place before disaster strikes.
A $5 million grant from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality aims to help. The funding comes from the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act, which will be used to help install up to solar and battery microgrids in six counties impacted by Helene over the next two years.
“We’re looking at food pantries. We’re looking at communication towers. We’re looking at, ‘We have an application from a water utility that provides drinking water,’” Trowbridge said. “We’ve already got 39 applications. We’re in the process of choosing our first six sites.”
As for what they’ll look like, Broad River’s Shumont Station already has an example. Its permanent solar microgrid recently got up running with two solar arrays on the hillside, a battery system and a switcher designed to automatically “island off” or separate from the grid and provide on-site power in the event of an outage.
“I think it’s a good idea, especially out in the rural areas, that takes longer, usually to get utilities back up and running,” Hayner said.
The DEQ funding will also help set up a mobile “Beehive” microgrid hub in western and eastern North Carolina, providing lendable systems like the ones Hayner provided to his neighbors during the storm.
While no one hopes or expects to see another storm like Helene in the near future, Hayner said outages, even prolonged outages are likely to occur again. Hayner hopes having these systems at the ready will mean his department can respond even faster to the next emergency and help the region persevere.
“Most of what I saw was people coming together, solving their own problems,” Trowbridge said. “[These systems] show people what’s possible.”
VIDEO: Microgrids can provide vital power during hurricanes
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