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The HOA Sold Our Water Tower to Pay Dues—Then Their Clubhouse Fire Had No Water #hoadrama — Transcript

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0:01Drain it first, then cut it down.
0:04>> 250,000 gallons of water came roaring
0:07out of the bottom of my water tower and
0:09down the hill like a flash flood. Behind
0:11it, a salvage crew was lighting cutting
0:13torches. That tower fed every fire
0:15hydrant in Quail Hollow Estates, 180
0:17homes. The woman who gave the order was
0:19standing on my gravel road with a
0:21clipboard and a red folder, Sheryl
0:23Kincaid, president of the Quail Hollow
0:25Homeowners Association.
0:26>> Stop! That tank is live. It's the fire
0:29supply.
0:30>> It's an abandoned structure, Mr. Haney,
0:33on a parcel with a lien.
0:35>> A lien for what?
0:36>> $9,800
0:38in unpaid dues.
0:40We're recovering value.
0:42>> I'm not in your HOA.
0:44>> You are now HOA.
0:45>> The water hit the ditch at the bottom of
0:47the hill and kept going, brown and fast
0:50across my hay field. The salvage foreman
0:52had stopped at the base of the tank with
0:53his torch in his hand. He was staring at
0:55the water. "Ma'am," he called, "this
0:57thing's full. Somebody's using it."
0:59"It's scrap," Sheryl said. "You bought
1:01it, cut it." He looked at me. I looked
1:04at him. Then the first torch hit the
1:05steel and a shower of orange sparks fell
1:0880 ft to the gravel. I stood there and
1:10did the arithmetic I'd done for 22 years
1:13as a fire chief. If a house caught fire
1:15in Quail Hollow tomorrow, the first
1:17engine would open a hydrant and get
1:19nothing but air. "Sheryl," I said, "if
1:21you cut that tank and there's a fire
1:23over there, those hydrants are dry." She
1:25finally looked at me. "Mr. Haney, we
1:27have a fire department," she said. "We
1:29don't need your rusty tower." I have
1:31lived on the same 40 acres in Stony Fork
1:33County, Kentucky, my whole life. My
1:36father farmed it.
1:37I was a volunteer firefighter with the
1:39Stony Fork Fire District for 31 years
1:42and its chief for the last 22.
1:44I retired 3 years ago. My wife Irma says
1:47I still sleep with one ear on the
1:48scanner. The water tower was my father's
1:50idea. In 1999, a developer bought the
1:53old Pettit farm on the other side of our
1:54east fence to build Quail Hollow
1:56Estates.
1:57There was no county water out there.
1:59There still isn't. Just wells, and you
2:02can't fight a house fire with a well.
2:04The fire district told the developer he
2:05needed hydrants. Hydrants need pressure.
2:08Pressure needs height. And the highest
2:11ground for 3 miles was the knob on the
2:12back of our farm. So, my father made a
2:14deal. The developer paid to build the
2:17tank on our knob, a 250,000 gallon steel
2:20standpipe, 80 ft tall, painted sky blue.
2:24My father formed a little nonprofit
2:26water cooperative to own and run it, the
2:28Haney Knob Water Co-op, and deeded the
2:30ground under it to the Co-op forever.
2:33The tank filled from two deep wells on
2:35our land. A main ran downhill from the
2:37tank to 11 fire hydrants in Quail
2:39Hollow. The Co-op signed a recorded
2:41agreement with the fire district. The
2:43tank would be kept full for fire
2:45protection, always.
2:47The fire district would test the
2:48hydrants every spring, and nobody would
2:50drain, alter, or remove the tank without
2:53the fire district's written approval. My
2:55father ran the Co-op until he died. Then
2:57I did. I checked the wells every week. I
3:00painted the tank every 8 years. The fire
3:02district tested the hydrants every
3:04April. For 25 years, every house in
3:06Quail Hollow had fire protection because
3:09of a tank on my knob that most of them
3:10had never thought about once. Cheryl
3:12Kincaid bought her house on Clubhouse
3:14Circle in 2019. She became HOA president
3:17in 2022. By 2023, she'd noticed my
3:20tower. It started with the newsletter.
3:23Every month, the Quail Hollow Quarterly
3:25had a column from the president. In the
3:26spring of 2023, Cheryl wrote that
3:29residents had raised concerns about the
3:31rusting industrial tower visible from
3:33the pool deck. She called it a blight on
3:35our community skyline. It wasn't
3:37rusting. I'd painted it the year before.
3:40But the words stuck. Then came the
3:42letter. It was an invitation to join the
3:44Quail Hollow HOA. Annual dues, $600.
3:48I wrote back polite and short.
3:51My farm was not part of Quail Hollow. It
3:53never had been.
3:54"No thank you." I sent it certified
3:56return receipt. I file things.
3:5931 years of fire reports will do that to
4:01a man. Six weeks later a second letter
4:03came. The board had voted to incorporate
4:06adjacent parcels that share community
4:07infrastructure.
4:09My farm, because the tank fed their
4:10hydrants, was now a participating
4:12parcel. Dues would be billed quarterly.
4:15I laughed out loud at my kitchen table.
4:17"Irma, they annexed us." She read it
4:19over my shoulder. "Can they do that?"
4:21"No, an HOA can't vote itself onto
4:24somebody else's land." "Then what's
4:26this?" "A piece of paper," I said, "with
4:28a logo on it." I didn't answer it. That
4:30was my mistake. The bills came every
4:32quarter, then late notices, then penalty
4:35notices compounding.
4:37By last spring the paperwork said I owed
4:38$9,800
4:40in dues, fees, and penalties to an
4:43association I'd never joined. The first
4:45time Sheryl spoke to me directly was at
4:47the Stony Fork feed store in front of
4:48the seed counter. She was buying mulch
4:50for the clubhouse beds. "Mr. Haney, the
4:53water tower man." "Dwight Haney, ma'am."
4:56"You're very hard to reach. We've sent
4:57you several invoices." "I've read every
4:59one of them. I'm not in your
5:01association." "You benefit from our
5:03community, you met in our you know your
5:06community benefits from my tank," I
5:08said. "Every hydrant you've got." She
5:10smiled at the clerk, not at me.
5:13"He was a volunteer fireman," she said,
5:15like she was explaining a child, "very
5:16proud of it." The clerk looked at the
5:18floor.
5:19I paid for my mineral blocks and left.
5:21In April, there was a new line in the
5:23newsletter. The board was exploring
5:25options to recover delinquent balances
5:28through the value of structures on
5:29participating parcels. I read that
5:31sentence three times. Structures on
5:33participating parcels. There was only
5:36one structure on my farm that anybody in
5:37Quail Hollow could see. I called the
5:39fire district that afternoon. The new
5:41chief was a woman named Renee Bartlett.
5:44I'd hired her as a rookie in 2004.
5:47She'd come up through every rank on my
5:48department, and when I retired, I told
5:51the board she was the only one I trust
5:53with it. Chief, it's Dwight Haney.
5:55Chief, she said. She still calls me
5:57that. What's wrong? I read her the
5:59newsletter line. She was quiet on the
6:01phone for a long moment. They're talking
6:03about the tank. I think they are. They
6:06can't touch it. It's in the co-op
6:08agreement. They need our written
6:09approval. I know that. You know that.
6:12Does Cheryl Kincaid know that? She will,
6:14Renee said. I'm sending her a letter
6:16today. Chief, one more thing. When you
6:18write it, put the word hydrants in bold.
6:21Why? Because she reads the newsletter
6:23she writes. She doesn't read anything
6:25else. Renee almost laughed. Bold, got
6:28it. Renee's letter went out by certified
6:30mail the next morning.
6:32I have a copy. It was one page on fire
6:34district letterhead. It said the tank on
6:36Haney Knob was the sole water supply for
6:38the 11 fire hydrants serving Quail
6:40Hollow Estates.
6:42It said any draining, alteration, or
6:44removal of the tank without the fire
6:46district's written approval would leave
6:48every home in Quail Hollow without
6:50hydrant water for firefighting. It said
6:52the tank was owned by the Haney Knob
6:54Water Co-op, not by Mr. Haney
6:56personally, and was protected by a
6:58recorded agreement. And at the bottom,
7:00in bold, this structure is critical life
7:02safety infrastructure. Do not interfere
7:05with it. The green return receipt came
7:07back signed 4 days later. Cheryl
7:09Kincaid's signature. Nobody from the HOA
7:11called Renee.
7:12Nobody called me. Instead, the main
7:14newsletter had a new president's column.
7:17It said the association had received a
7:18letter from the fire district containing
7:20alarmist language, apparently at the
7:22request of the owner of the adjacent
7:24tower.
7:25It said the board would not be pressured
7:26by scare tactics from interested
7:28parties. Interested parties, a fire
7:30chief and a retired one. I showed it to
7:32Irma. She read it twice. Dwight, she
7:35thinks it's a trick. She thinks
7:37everything's a trick, I said. That's how
7:39she does her own business. In May, I
7:41went to the Quail Hollow annual meeting
7:43myself. I'm not a member, but the
7:45meeting was in their clubhouse and the
7:47doors were open and I figured if I said
7:49it out loud in front of 100 people,
7:51somebody would remember. When she called
7:53for comments, I stood up at the back.
7:55I'm Dwight Haney. I run the water co-op
7:57on the knob. A few heads turned. That
8:00tank feeds every hydrant in this
8:01neighborhood. Cheryl didn't let me get
8:03further.
8:04Mr. Haney is not a member of this
8:06association. No, ma'am, but your
8:08hydrants are.
8:12A few people laughed. Cheryl didn't. Mr.
8:14Haney was a volunteer fireman, she said
8:17to the room, not an engineer, not a
8:19water authority. She smiled. Just a man
8:22with an old tank who doesn't want to pay
8:23his share. Ma'am, if that tank goes,
8:26your hydrants go. Thank you for your
8:28input, Mr. Haney. Next item. The room
8:31went on to talk about pool hours.
8:33I stood there a minute longer.
8:35A gray-haired woman in the front row
8:36turned around and looked at me. She
8:38didn't say anything. I found out later
8:41she was the treasurer.
8:42Bonnie Staley. In June, Cheryl called a
8:45special board meeting. I found out about
8:47it later. Four board members voted,
8:49three voted yes. The treasurer, a
8:51retired bookkeeper named Bonnie Staley,
8:53voted no. The motion authorized the
8:55president to recover my so-called
8:57balance through the sale and removal of
8:59the steel structure on my land.
9:01That was the phrase, the steel
9:03structure. Like it was an old grain bin.
9:06Two weeks later at 7:15 on a Tuesday
9:08morning, I heard the trucks. The salvage
9:11company was called Tri-County Metal
9:12Recovery. They sent a flatbed, a crane
9:15truck, a pickup, and four men with
9:17cutting torches.
9:18They'd cut through the chain on my farm
9:20gate with bolt cutters before I even got
9:22my boots on. By the time I got down the
9:24hill, the foreman had already opened the
9:26drain valve at the bottom of the tank.
9:28That was the sound I'd heard. Not the
9:30trucks, the water. 250,000 gallons comes
9:34out of a 6-in drain like the end of the
9:36world. It tore a gully down my hill,
9:39took out 40 ft of fence, and flattened
9:41my second cutting of hay into the mud.
9:44It ran brown across the county road and
9:46into the ditch on the other side. The
9:48foreman's name was Mickey Doane. After
9:50the first torch went on, he walked over
9:52to me. He looked sick. "Mister, is this
9:55yours?" "It belongs to the water co-op.
9:57I run it." "The HOA sold it to us as
9:59scrap. We paid 38,000 for it." "Paid
10:02who?" "The HOA. Wired it to them
10:05Friday." He pulled a folded paper out of
10:07his pocket. A bill of sale, Quail Hollow
10:10HOA to Tri-County Metal Recovery. One
10:12steel water storage tank, approximately
10:1480 ft. $38,000. Signed Cheryl Kincaid,
10:17President. "Did anybody tell you it was
10:19the fire supply?" "She said it was
10:21abandoned." Mickey looked up at the
10:23tank. "Abandoned tanks don't have water
10:26in them." "No," I said, "they don't."
10:28"Mister, I'm going to stop. Cheryl will
10:31sue you." "Let her." He waved his arm at
10:33his crew. "Torches off. Everybody off."
10:36The torches went out, but the damage was
10:38done. The tank was empty, and one side
10:41had a 12-ft cut through the steel at the
10:43base, glowing orange at the edges.
10:46Without that wall, the tank couldn't
10:47hold water. Not a gallon. Cheryl walked
10:50up the road toward us. "Why did you
10:52stop?" she asked Mickey. "Because it's
10:54not scrap, ma'am. It's a live water
10:56system. You signed a contract. And you
10:59signed a paper that says you own
11:00something you don't." He turned his back
11:02on her. "My lawyer will call your
11:04lawyer." Cheryl looked at me. Then she
11:06looked at the tank bleeding its last
11:08water out of the drain and the long gash
11:10in the steel. "Well," she said, "it's
11:13done now. You can have the rest of it
11:15hauled away yourself." She tucked the
11:16clipboard under her arm. "The fines stop
11:19when the parcel is in compliance." She
11:21laughed. A little chuckle through her
11:23nose. I had my phone out. I'd been
11:25recording since I came down the hill.
11:27After they left, I walked up the knob by
11:29myself. The tank stood there with a
11:31black 12-ft gash across its base. The
11:34steel curled out like a torn can. The
11:36sky blue paint I'd put on it 2 years
11:38earlier was scorched black around the
11:40cut.
11:41A little trickle of water was still
11:42running out of the drain valve into the
11:44mud. My father's name was on a brass
11:46plate by the ladder. Hanny Knob Water
11:48Co-op 1999. Built for the protection of
11:51our neighbors. I put my hand flat on the
11:53steel. It was still warm from the
11:55torches. Irma came up the hill behind me
11:57in her garden boots. She stood beside me
12:00and looked at the gash for a long time.
12:02"Your daddy would have gone down there
12:04and dragged her off that road by her
12:05collar." she said. "I know." "You
12:07didn't." "No." "Why not?" "Because
12:10that's what she wants, Irma. A crazy old
12:12man on the news."
12:14I took my hand off the steel.
12:16I'm going to do this the way daddy would
12:18have. Daddy never did paperwork in his
12:20life. Then the way he would have with 30
12:22years of fire reports. Which way is
12:24that? On paper, I said. And out loud to
12:27the people it's going to hurt. I called
12:30Renee Bartlett from the side of the road
12:31while the salvage trucks were still
12:33pulling out. "Chief, they did it." "Did
12:35what?" "They drained the tank and cut
12:37the wall. It's done. It won't hold
12:39water." There was a silence on the line
12:41so long I thought I'd lost her. "Dwight,
12:44are you telling me every hydrant in
12:45Quail Hollow is dry?" As of about 8:00
12:48this morning. "Oh god." I heard her
12:50stand up. "Okay. Okay. I'm putting Quail
12:53Hollow on tanker response. Mutual aid?
12:55Automatic on any structure fire. And I'm
12:58notifying the state fire marshal." "And
13:00the residents?" "I'll send a notice to
13:02every house today. And I'm calling
13:04Cheryl Kincaid myself." She did. I found
13:07out later what Cheryl told her. Chief
13:09Bartlett, "The association has resolved
13:11a delinquent account. This is not a fire
13:13district matter. Ma'am, you just took
13:15out the hydrant supply for 180 homes.
13:18Your department has trucks, doesn't it?
13:20Trucks carry about 1,000 gallons. A
13:22house fire needs 10 times that." "Then
13:25bring more trucks." Cheryl said. And she
13:27hung up. The fire district's notice went
13:29to every mailbox in Quail Hollow the
13:31next afternoon. Red paper, bold letters.
13:35Fire hydrants out of service until
13:37further notice. It said water supply for
13:39fighting had been removed by action of
13:41the Quail Hollow HOA.
13:43It told residents to check their smoke
13:45detectors and keep fire extinguishers
13:47handy. The next morning the Quail Hollow
13:49HOA sent an email to the same 180 homes.
13:52Residents may have received an alarming
13:54notice from the fire district. Please be
13:56assured that the community's fire
13:58protection remains fully in place. The
14:00removal of the blighted structure on the
14:02adjacent parcel was a lawful recovery
14:04action and does not affect your safety.
14:06Does not affect your safety. Irma read
14:08it on the porch and handed me her phone
14:10without a word. She's lying to them, I
14:12said. I know. Irma, those hydrants are
14:15dry. Then go tell them, she said. Not
14:18the board, the people. So I did. I spent
14:20the next 10 days knocking on doors in
14:22Quail Hollow. I didn't bring a lawyer. I
14:25brought a copy of Renee's letter and a
14:27photograph of the gash in my tank and my
14:30old fire chief's badge in my shirt
14:31pocket. Because some people there
14:33remembered me and some didn't. Most
14:36people listened. Some thanked me. A few
14:38bought fire extinguishers that week. An
14:41old man on Bob White Court remembered me
14:43from a chimney fire in 2009.
14:45He shook my hand with both of his and
14:47said, "If you say it's dry, Chief, it's
14:49dry." One young father on Cubby Lane
14:51asked me what he should do if his house
14:53caught fire. "Get your family out," I
14:55said. "Don't wait for the hydrant. Don't
14:58wait for anything." Some people didn't
15:00listen. A man on Clubhouse Circle told
15:03me to get off his porch or he'd call the
15:05sheriff. A woman told me Cheryl had
15:07warned them I'd be going door-to-door
15:09spreading fear to get out of paying my
15:10dues. On the eighth night, somebody
15:12knocked on my door.
15:14It was the gray-haired woman from the
15:15front row of the annual meeting. "Mr.
15:17Haney, I'm Bonnie Staley. I'm the
15:19treasurer over there." "Come in." "No, I
15:22shouldn't. I just wanted you to know.
15:25She held her purse against her chest
15:26with both hands. I voted against it, the
15:29sale. I told them they had no right. I
15:32believe you. Is it true about the
15:34hydrants? Every one of them is dry, Mrs.
15:37Staley. She closed her eyes.
15:39I have grandchildren who stay with me in
15:41the summer. Then keep a ladder by the
15:43upstairs window, I said, and a plan.
15:45What are you going to do? Tell anybody
15:47who will listen, starting with her. She
15:50won't listen, Bonnie said. No, I said,
15:53but she'll have been told. And at the
15:55end of Clubhouse Circle, I knocked on
15:57Cheryl Kincaid's door. She opened it
15:59with a glass of iced tea. She didn't
16:01open the screen. You're harassing my
16:03residents. Cheryl, your hydrants are
16:05dry. Your house is a hundred feet from
16:07your Clubhouse. And? And if either one
16:10catches fire, there's no water. The fire
16:13department will handle it. They'll try
16:15with tankers from six miles away. Mr.
16:18Haney, you had 18 months to pay a simple
16:20bill. This isn't about the bill anymore.
16:23It's always been about the bill, she
16:24said, and she shut the door. I walked
16:27back to my truck. It was hot, still and
16:29hazy. The kind of July afternoon in
16:31Kentucky where the air feels like a wet
16:33blanket and the thunderheads build up in
16:36the west by 4:00. On the radio, the
16:38weather service had issued a severe
16:40thunderstorm watch for the evening.
16:41Damaging winds, frequent lightning. It
16:44was the 3rd of July. The Quail Hollow
16:464th of July community picnic was the
16:48next day at the Clubhouse. There were
16:51already red, white, and blue bunting
16:52streamers on the Clubhouse railing. At
16:549:40 that night, the storm hit. I was on
16:57my porch with Irma. You could see the
16:59lightning walking across the ridges, one
17:01strike after another. Close enough that
17:03the thunder came right on top of the
17:05flash.
17:06The rain came sideways. The power
17:08flickered twice and held. At 10:06, a
17:11bolt of lightning hit something in Quail
17:12Hollow. We saw the flash turn the whole
17:15sky white and heard it crack like a
17:17rifle a quarter mile away. At 10:11 my
17:19old scanner on the kitchen counter came
17:21alive. Stony Fork Engine 1 Tanker 1
17:24respond structure fire Quail Hollow
17:27Estates a burst of static. The clubhouse
17:30caller reports roof fully involved. I
17:32was already pulling on my boots. Dwight
17:34Irma said, I'm not going in I said, I'm
17:37going to the pond. What pond? Mine. Here
17:41is what I knew and what I'd been
17:42thinking about for 10 days. A tanker
17:45holds about 2,000 gallons. When it's
17:47empty it has to go somewhere to refill.
17:50The nearest hydrant with water was in
17:51the town of Stony Fork 6 miles away.
17:5412 miles round trip. A clubhouse fire
17:57with a fully involved roof would eat
17:582,000 gallons in about 4 minutes. But
18:01there was another water source a lot
18:03closer. The stock pond on my farm an
18:06acre and a half 8 feet deep in the
18:08middle a quarter mile from the Quail
18:10Hollow fence. I dug it with my father in
18:121987 and in 2011 as fire [clears throat]
18:15chief
18:16I'd put in a dry hydrant at the edge of
18:18it. A capped pipe going down into the
18:20water so a fire engine could hook a hose
18:23and pump straight out of the pond. We
18:24tested it once in 2012 and forgotten
18:27about it. I drove my truck through the
18:29downpour to the pond turned my
18:31headlights on the dry hydrant and pulled
18:33the weeds off the cap with my bare
18:34hands.
18:36Then I called Renee on her cell phone.
18:37Chief Haney your tankers need a fill
18:39site. Dwight I'm standing in front of a
18:42burning building with no water. My pond
18:44the dry hydrant the one we put in in
18:462011. A second of silence then good God
18:50I forgot about it. I didn't send an
18:52engine to draft. From your pond? Your
18:55tankers can fill here in 3 minutes a
18:57quarter mile from the fire. I'm sending
18:59engine 2 stay there guide them in.
19:02Engine 2's captain jumped down from the
19:03cab and stared at the pond then at me.
19:06Chief Haney what are you doing out here?
19:08Showing you where your water is son hook
19:10up to that pipe." There's a pipe? Since
19:132011, hard suction, two lengths, it'll
19:16draft. He did it. The pump roared. Water
19:19came up out of my pond and into the tank
19:21on his truck, and he looked at me like
19:23I'd pulled a rabbit out of the rain. I
19:24stood in the rain in my headlights and
19:26waved engine two through my gate, which
19:28was still broken from the salvage crew's
19:30bolt cutters. Later, Renee told me what
19:32it had been like at the clubhouse in
19:34those first minutes. Engine one pulled
19:36up to the red hydrant in front of the
19:38clubhouse. A firefighter named Josh spun
19:41the valve open with his wrench. Nothing
19:43came out. Just a cough of dry air and a
19:45little rust. "Chief, hydrant's dry."
19:48"Try the next one." He ran 50 yd to the
19:50next one, opened it. Air. "They're all
19:53dry, Chief. Everyone." Renee said she
19:56stood in the rain with the radio in her
19:57hand and watched the clubhouse roof glow
19:59orange, and she knew exactly what I'd
20:01been trying to tell everybody for 10
20:02days. By the time the first tanker came
20:05back from my pond, the clubhouse was
20:06gone. I watched it from the high ground
20:09at the edge of my field.
20:10The roof had fallen in. Flames were
20:13coming out of every window 20 ft into
20:15the rain. The red, white, and blue
20:17bunting on the railing burned in long
20:19strips and blew away in the wind like
20:21sparks. And the wind was blowing east,
20:23toward Clubhouse Circle. The first house
20:26on Clubhouse Circle caught at 10:40. The
20:28vinyl siding melted and then the eaves
20:30went. It belonged to the Rileys, a
20:32retired couple. They got out. The second
20:34house caught at 10:52. The Trains, young
20:37family. They got out. The third house
20:40caught at 11:08. The Parkers. They were
20:42at the lake for the holiday. Nobody
20:44home. The fourth house on Clubhouse
20:46Circle was a two-story colonial with
20:48black shutters and an American flag on
20:50the porch. It caught from the Parkers at
20:5211:20. It belonged to Sheryl Kincaid.
20:55The firefighters did everything they
20:57could. They formed a line of tankers
20:59running from my pond to Clubhouse
21:00Circle, back and forth in the dark in
21:03the rain. Every truck in three counties
21:06on mutual aid.
21:07Renee put water on the houses that were
21:09still standing instead of the ones
21:11already lost. They saved the fifth house
21:14and the sixth and the rest of Quail
21:15Hollow, but they couldn't save the first
21:17four. Around midnight, Cheryl Kincaid
21:20came running up Clubhouse Circle in a
21:21raincoat and slippers screaming at the
21:23firefighters. "My house. Why aren't you
21:26putting water on my house?" Rene met her
21:28in the street. "Ma'am, we're out of
21:30water. The next tanker's 4 minutes out."
21:33"Use the hydrant. It's right there."
21:35"Ma'am," Rene said, "there's nothing in
21:37[clears throat] the hydrant." Cheryl
21:38looked at the red hydrant in her own
21:40front lawn, then at her house, the
21:42flames coming out of the upstairs
21:44windows. "Why?" she said. Rene didn't
21:46answer her. She turned around and went
21:48back to work. At 1:30 in the morning, a
21:51Stony Fork firefighter named Tyson Birch
21:53collapsed from heat exhaustion inside
21:55his turnout gear.
21:56They carried him to the ambulance. He
21:58was 24. He was okay by morning. At 2:15,
22:01[clears throat]
22:01the fire was out. I was standing at the
22:03edge of my field when Rene came up in
22:05her white chief's helmet, soaked and
22:07black with soot. She didn't say anything
22:10for a long time. "With the hydrants,"
22:12she finally said, "we'd have held it to
22:14the clubhouse." "I know." "Four houses,
22:16Dwight. Four families." "I know." "And a
22:19kid of mine on a stretcher." She pulled
22:21her helmet off and wiped her face with a
22:23black glove. "That pond," she said, "if
22:25you hadn't remembered that pond" She
22:27didn't finish. She didn't have to. At
22:30dawn, I walked down to Clubhouse Circle.
22:32The clubhouse was a black foundation
22:34with the steel frame of the pool fence
22:36still standing around it. The four
22:38houses were chimneys and charred framing
22:40and melted cars in driveways.
22:42Smoke was still rising from the rubble
22:44in the rain. And at the end of the
22:46street, in front of her own ruined
22:48house, Cheryl Kincaid was standing in a
22:50borrowed raincoat and bedroom slippers.
22:53She was staring at the fire hydrant in
22:55front of her lawn. It was a red hydrant
22:57with a yellow cap. The firefighters had
22:59opened it at the start of the fire
23:01hoping. The cap was still off.
23:03Nothing had come out of it but a little
23:05puff of dry air. She saw me. For a long
23:08moment, neither of us said anything.
23:10"Why didn't it work?" she said. Her
23:12voice was very small. I thought about
23:14everything I could have said to her.
23:16"Because you sold the water," I said.
23:18She stared at me. Her lips moved, but
23:21nothing came out. "My father built that
23:23tank for your house," I said. "He never
23:25made you. He built it anyway." I left
23:27her standing there with the dry hydrant.
23:29Cheryl Kincaid lawyer up before noon. By
23:31evening, people in Quail Hollow were
23:32talking. Not to me, about me. A man
23:35stood in front of my broken gate and
23:37yelled that I'd let the tank go dry to
23:39get back at them. Somebody spray-painted
23:41the word dry on my mailbox in black
23:43letters. Irma found it in the morning.
23:45She didn't clean it off. "Leave it," she
23:48said. "Let them look at it when they
23:49drive by. Let them think about what it
23:52means." By Monday, there was a statement
23:54on the Quail Hollow HOA website. By
23:56Tuesday, it was in the Stony Fork
23:58Courier. By Wednesday, she'd booked
24:00herself on the morning call-in show on
24:02WSFK, the AM station that half the
24:04county listens to on the way to work.
24:07The show was called Coffee with Buddy.
24:09Buddy Lamb had hosted it for 30 years.
24:11He talked about high school football,
24:13church suppers, and whatever the county
24:15commission had done wrong that week. And
24:17on Thursday morning at 7:30, he
24:19introduced Cheryl Kincaid. I listened in
24:21my truck at the end of my driveway.
24:23Irma sat beside me with her coffee.
24:25"Mrs. Kincaid, you lost your own home in
24:27that fire," Buddy said. "My
24:29condolences." "Thank you, Buddy. It's
24:31been devastating for all of us."
24:34"There's a lot of talk around the county
24:35about the water tower. What happened
24:37there?" "Well, Buddy, the facts are
24:39simple. There was an old neglected tank
24:41on a neighboring property. Neglected
24:43how?" "The owner hadn't paid his share
24:46of community costs in almost 2 years."
24:48She didn't miss a beat. "We followed our
24:50procedures to recover that debt." "And
24:52the fire?" "The fire was caused by
24:54lightning, Buddy. That's an act of God.
24:57Her voice was steady, practiced. What
25:00made it worse was that our community
25:01relied on an aging private water system.
25:04She paused for effect, run by one man
25:06with no oversight. When his system
25:08failed, we paid the price. Irma turned
25:11and looked at me. His system failed, she
25:13said. We're asking the county to
25:15investigate Mr. Haney's water co-op,
25:17Cheryl went on, whether it was ever
25:19properly maintained, whether it was ever
25:21safe. Strong words, Buddy said. Let's go
25:24to the phones. Line one, you're on
25:26coffee with Buddy. A woman's voice came
25:28on, calm, low, familiar. Buddy, this is
25:32Renee Bartlett, chief of the Stony Fork
25:34Fire District. There was a pause on the
25:36air. You could almost hear Cheryl sit
25:38up. Chief, good morning. Morning, Buddy.
25:41I need to correct the record. Go right
25:43ahead, Chief. That tank wasn't
25:45neglected. My department tested those 11
25:48hydrants in April. And? Full flow, full
25:50pressure. It passed. So, what happened?
25:53On June 25th, Quail Hollow HOA drained
25:56that tank and sold it for scrap. Sold
25:58it? $38,000. I have the bill of sale,
26:02signed by Mrs. Kincaid. Buddy didn't say
26:04anything for a second. Buddy Lamb is not
26:07a man who runs out of things to say.
26:09Mrs. Kincaid, he said. The tank was a
26:11structure on a delinquent parcel, Cheryl
26:14said. We had every right. Ma'am, I sent
26:17you a certified letter in April, Renee
26:19said. It said the tank was critical life
26:21safety infrastructure. She let that sit.
26:24It said do not interfere with it. Your
26:26signature is on the return receipt. I
26:28don't recall that letter. I'll bring it
26:30to the station, Renee said. You can read
26:33it on the air. Buddy cleared his throat.
26:35Let's go to line two. Buddy, this is
26:37Mickey Done, Tri-County Metal Recovery.
26:40Morning, Mickey. I'm the guy who bought
26:42that tank. I want everybody to know
26:44something. Go ahead. When my crew showed
26:47up, that tank was full. I asked her if
26:49somebody was using it. What did she say?
26:52She said it was abandoned and to drain
26:54it. His voice got thick. I opened that
26:57valve. I drained the water those people
26:59needed. He swallowed. I'll carry that
27:02the rest of my life. Mrs. Kincaid, I'm
27:05not going to respond to a disgruntled
27:07contractor. Line three, Buddy said. He
27:10didn't sound like himself anymore.
27:12Buddy, this is Bonnie Staley. I'm the
27:14treasurer of the Quail Hollow HOA. The
27:16line went dead quiet. Bonnie, Cheryl
27:19said. Just the name. I voted no on
27:21selling that tank, Bonnie said. I said
27:23the board had no right to annex Mr.
27:25Haney's farm. Is that on record? When
27:28on.
27:28It's in the minutes. And the $38,000?
27:31Buddy asked. That's why I'm calling.
27:34Bonnie took a breath you could hear on
27:36the air. It didn't go into the
27:38association's operating account. It went
27:40into the amenity fund. What's the
27:42amenity fund? A discretionary account.
27:45The president controls it. Only the
27:47president. And what was it spent on?
27:49$9,800 went to cover Mr. Haney's
27:52so-called dues. And the rest? The rest
27:55paid for the 4th of July picnic.
27:57Bonnie's voice cracked. The fireworks,
27:59the catering, and a new outdoor kitchen
28:02for the clubhouse. The clubhouse that
28:04burned down, Buddy said slowly. Yes,
28:06sir. The clubhouse that burned down.
28:08There was a long silence on WSFK, the
28:11kind you almost never hear on radio.
28:13Mrs. Kincaid, Buddy said quietly. Do you
28:16want to respond to that? I think I've
28:18said enough, Cheryl said. Line four.
28:21Buddy said. Go ahead, you're on. Buddy,
28:24my name is Ashley Train.
28:26A young woman. Her voice was shaking. We
28:29lived on Clubhouse Circle, second house.
28:31We lost everything. My daughter's crib,
28:34our wedding pictures. I'm so sorry,
28:36Ashley. Mr. Haney came to my door on
28:38July 1st. He told us the hydrants were
28:40dry. She caught her breath. He told us
28:43to get extinguishers and to have a plan.
28:46She was crying now. We had a plan
28:48because of him. We got out because of
28:50him. Ashley. And then Cheryl emailed us
28:53that everything was fine. Her voice
28:55broke. She knew. She knew and she told
28:57us it was fine. Cheryl's microphone
28:59clicked off.
29:00On the air you could hear her chair
29:02scrape back and her footsteps leaving
29:03the studio. Buddy Lamb let the silence
29:06go for five full seconds. Line five, he
29:08said. Last call. I hadn't planned to
29:11call. My thumb had dialed the station
29:13before I decided. Buddy. Dwight Haney.
29:16Chief Haney. Buddy's voice changed. He'd
29:18known me 40 years. You want to say
29:21something? Just one thing for the folks
29:23on Clubhouse Circle. Go ahead. My father
29:26built that tank so nobody over there
29:28would ever watch their house burn.
29:29I stopped. With a dry hydrant in the
29:32yard. I had to. I'm sorry I couldn't
29:35stop them. I tried. Chief, you pumped
29:37their water out of your own pond. That's
29:40what it was there for, I said. Buddy
29:42Lamb didn't say anything for a second.
29:44Then his voice cracked on the air for
29:45the first time in 30 years. Folks, we'll
29:48be right back. I turned off the radio.
29:51Irma was crying. I didn't blame her.
29:53Dwight, she said, you were right. I
29:55didn't want to be, I said. What came
29:58after took most of a year.
29:59All of it was paper. All of it hurt
30:02them. The state fire marshal's office
30:04investigated. Renee called me the day
30:06the report came out. Dwight, you want to
30:08hear the sentence? Read it to me. She
30:10read it slowly, the way she used to read
30:12me incident reports when she was a
30:14rookie and wanted me to know she'd
30:16gotten every word right. Well, Chief, I
30:18said when she finished, that's one
30:20sentence nobody's going to argue with.
30:22The cause of the Clubhouse fire was
30:24lightning. But the report named the
30:26cause of the spread in one sentence.
30:29Loss of hydrant water supply due to the
30:31unauthorized removal of the Haney Knob
30:32storage tank by the Quail Hollow
30:34Homeowners Association. The four
30:36families who lost their homes had
30:38insurance. Their insurers paid them.
30:40Then the insurers sued the HOA to get it
30:43all back.
30:44So did the Stony Fork Fire District for
30:46the mutual aid response and Tyson
30:48Birch's hospital bills. So did the
30:50Haynie Knob Water Co-op for the tank. So
30:52did I for my fence and my hay and my
30:53road. The HOA's own insurance carrier
30:56refused to cover any of it. The policy
30:58excluded losses from the association's
31:00intentional sale of property it did not
31:02own. And it excluded any officer who
31:05told residents their fire protection was
31:07fully in place after the fire district
31:09told her in writing that it wasn't. The
31:11total came to a little over $3.4
31:13million.
31:14The meeting where the board voted on it
31:16was held at the Stony Fork Baptist
31:18Church because the clubhouse was ash.
31:20Bonnie told me about it afterward. A man
31:22stood up in the third pew and asked why
31:24everybody had to pay for what one person
31:26did. "Because she did it in our name."
31:29Bonnie said, "On our letterhead, with
31:31our signatures behind her." "Can't we go
31:33after her?" "We are. She doesn't have $3
31:36million." "Then what are we supposed to
31:38do?" "Pay it." Bonnie said, "Or lose the
31:41clubhouse lot, or both." Nobody said
31:43anything after that. The Quail Hollow
31:46HOA had 180 homes. The board levied a
31:49special assessment of $19,000 per home,
31:52payable over 5 years. Some families
31:54refinanced, some sold. The clubhouse lot
31:57was put up as collateral for a bank loan
31:59to cover the rest. And there was one
32:01more thing nobody in Quail Hollow had
32:02thought about. Insurance companies rate
32:05every neighborhood for fire protection.
32:07A neighborhood with working hydrants
32:08gets a good rating.
32:10A neighborhood without them gets a bad
32:12one. The week after the fire, the rating
32:14bureau downgraded Quail Hollow Estates
32:16to the lowest class there is. No
32:18hydrants, no water. Every homeowner's
32:21insurance premium in Quail Hollow went
32:22up. Some of them doubled. It would stay
32:25that way until there was a new tank. A
32:27new tank would cost $1.3 million. The
32:30HOA would have to pay for it. I heard
32:32about the insurance letters at the Stony
32:34Fork post office. A man from Quail
32:36Hollow was standing at the counter,
32:38holding his red in the face. "$2,800
32:41more a year," he said to nobody in
32:43particular, "because of a tank I didn't
32:45even know existed." He turned around and
32:47saw me. He knew who I was. Everybody did
32:49by then. "You're Haney." "Yes, sir." "Is
32:53it true you went door-to-door before the
32:55fire?" "I did. You didn't come to mine."
32:58"What's your address?" "42 Pheasant
33:00Run." "I came to 42 Pheasant Run on July
33:021st," I said. "You told me to get off
33:05your porch." He stood there with a
33:06letter in his hand for a long moment.
33:08Then he folded it up and put it in his
33:10pocket and walked out without a word.
33:12The Stony Fork County Commonwealth's
33:14Attorney charged Sheryl Kincaid with
33:15felony theft by unlawful taking for
33:18selling a water tank that belonged to
33:19the Haney Knob Water Co-op. She also
33:21faced a charge of wanton endangerment
33:23for Tyson Birch. Her lawyer negotiated a
33:26plea. She pleaded guilty to the theft, 5
33:28years probation, full restitution to the
33:31Co-op, and 200 hours of community
33:33service. The judge assigned her service
33:35hours to the Stony Fork Fire District.
33:37Renee told me Sheryl spent them washing
33:39fire trucks, including Tanker One, the
33:41truck that had run from my pond to her
33:43burning house 19 times that night. The
33:46amenity fund was audited. The auditor
33:48found another $14,000 Sheryl had moved
33:50through it for things that had nothing
33:52to do with amenities. That went into the
33:54restitution, too. Sheryl never rebuilt
33:56on Clubhouse Circle. She sold the empty
33:58lot at a loss the next spring and moved
34:00to Lexington. The lot sat empty for a
34:02long time.
34:04Buyers kept asking about the insurance
34:05rating. Tyson Birch came to my farm in
34:07August. He was the young firefighter
34:10who'd collapsed in his turnout gear. He
34:12brought his mother. "Chief Haney, I
34:14wanted to thank you." "For what, son?
34:16You're the one who went in." "For the
34:18pond," he said. "The captain told me."
34:21"Told you what?" "If the tankers had
34:22gone back to town," he said, "we'd have
34:25been out there 2 more hours." "You'd
34:27have been fine." "Maybe." His mother was
34:29holding his arm. "Maybe not." He looked
34:31up at the knob, at the empty concrete
34:34pad where the tank had stood. "Will you
34:36build it back?" "They'll build it back,"
34:38I said. "It's in the settlement."
34:40"Good," Tyson said. "I'd like to know
34:42the water's up there next time." Bonnie
34:45Staley became president of the new Quail
34:47Hollow board. The first thing she did
34:49was rescind the annexation vote. The
34:51second thing she did was send me a
34:52letter on HOA letterhead, which I have
34:54framed in my barn. It said the
34:56association had no authority over my
34:58farm, never had, and apologized to the
35:00Haney family and the Haney Knob Water
35:02Co-op by name.
35:04It was signed by every member of the new
35:05board, and at the bottom, Bonnie had
35:07written one line by hand. "We should
35:09have listened to the fire chief." The
35:11new tank went up the next summer, same
35:13spot on the knob, 250,000 gallons, 80 ft
35:17tall. The HOA paid for it, and the Co-op
35:19owns it, and the recorded agreement with
35:21the fire district is twice as long now
35:23as it used to be. The painting crew
35:25asked me what color I wanted. "Sky
35:27blue," I said, "like the old one." On
35:29the day it was filled, Renee brought
35:31engine one down to the end of Clubhouse
35:33Circle for the flow test. A crowd came
35:35out. Bonnie, the trainees with their
35:37little girl on Ashley's shoulders,
35:39Mickey Doan who drove over from
35:41Tri-County and stood in the back. He'd
35:43paid for the new ladder on the tank
35:45himself. He wouldn't let me thank him
35:46for it. Tyson Birch in his turnout coat
35:49holding the hydrant wrench. Buddy Lamb
35:51broadcast it live on WSFK from the
35:53tailgate of his truck. "Chief Haney,"
35:56Renee said. She handed me the wrench
35:58from Tyson. "You want to do the honors?"
36:00"It's your department, chief. It's your
36:02water," she said. So I fitted the wrench
36:04onto the red hydrant with the yellow cap
36:06in front of the empty lot where Sheryl
36:08Kincaid's house used to be. I put my
36:10weight into it and turned, and I felt
36:12the water come up from my father's knob,
36:1580 ft up and a quarter mile away,
36:17pushing hard against the valve. The
36:19train girl was laughing on her mother's
36:20shoulders. Everybody was stepping back.
36:23I kept turning.

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