WAYNESVILLE — Chester Kirby didn’t get up Wednesday morning, February 12, thinking he’d end the day a hero, but that’s what those in his Waynesville neighborhood are calling him — whether he wants to accept the distinction or not.
One of those is Pam Hughes, who shares a home with Robert Graham. It was their mobile home where Kirby became a hero.
Kirby carried Graham, a disabled man in a wheelchair, from the burning mobile home amid a brush fire that scorched more than eight acres while destroying a handful of structures and vehicles, Brantley County authorities said.
“He’s acted like he didn’t do anything heroic,” said Kirby’s father, Chet.
“He (Chester Kirby) was awesome,” said Hughes. “He’s my hero. We would’ve burned up if not for him.”
Hughes said she and Graham, along with a friend of their granddaughter, had been home about 20 minutes when Kirby began beating on the door and yelling.
“He was a blessing,” Hughes said. “The fire was raging towards us ... it sounded like a freight train. You feel the heat, which was intense.”
The fire engulfed the mobile home and two cars parked outside.
Attempts by The Brantley Beacon to contact Chester Kirby by phone since the incident were unsuccessful. When his father was reached again about the inability to reach his son for comment, he said he wasn’t surprised.
“He just said, ‘I did what I did and that’s it. Just one of those things you do when you have to do it,’” his father said. “He still doesn’t think he did anything special.
“It’s given everybody around here something to talk about the last couple of days though.”
The fire was started by a man (not identified) who was trying to clear his land, authorities said. They said he didn’t have a permit for the burn, which was in the area of Harrington, Tyson and Couper roads in Brantley County and started about 2:50 p.m.
Chet Kirby said his son and his friend, Wayne Whittington, were watching the burn when it went out of control.
“It was about 200 yards away,” said the elder Kirby. “It got (blown) into the trees and shot straight down to the ground and was off.”
Knowing the disabled senior citizen was in a mobile home in the path of the fire, Chester Kirby and Whittington jumped on an ATV side-by-side and raced to the trailer.
“They were going so fast they were almost up on two wheels one time making a turn,” Chet Kirby said.
Once at the dwelling, a portion of the back and one side were now ablaze, Chester Kirby went inside to locate Graham. As Kirby was removing him, Whittington alerted the others in another part of the mobile home of the fire and helped them evacuate.
“None of them knew anything was going on outside,” Chet Kirby said.
Hughes, still trying to wrap her thoughts around the situation, said the family is taking things one day at a time.
“This land is all we have,” she said. “We love it here ... this is home.”
Red Cross is helping the family, which is currently staying with a family member.
