Fireproof: Aycock Tractor Supply to rebuild
By John Joyce
Published in News on October 4, 2015 1:50 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Russell Aycock stands in the middle of the charred remains of what was once the Aycock Tractor Company showroom.
Russell Aycock stands in what was once the Aycock Tractor Supply store showroom.
The ceiling is torn away and the wall studs exposed. The floor, once polished and shimmering, is now covered in the charred remains of soot and ash that once were catalogues, tractor parts or roofing, ceiling and tile.
A month after the fire that threatened to wipe out 40 years of sweat poured into his family's business -- first by his father, Charles Aycock, 76, then by Aycock and his younger brother, Brad, 39 -- Russell still struggles to talk about what happened Aug. 4.
It wasn't easy to watch the flames or, now, to survey the damage.
But he knows one thing for sure -- like the farmers he serves, whom he counts as friends, he is ready for a new season, and, later, another harvest.
*
The fire started after the close of business.
An electrical problem caused a spark between the ceiling and the second-floor offices above the showroom that turned into an eight-alarm fire.
"It was a normal day. We where putting a new hay butler in the field," Aycock said.
He clears his throat. There is a long pause.
"Pretty tough," he manages.
He excuses himself and returns a moment later. Stoic isn't easy when you are talking about four decades of family tradition and the smoke and flames that took it away in a few hours.
"I guess you can say in the end it turned kind of ugly as the evening went on," Aycock said.
The blackened mess squishes underfoot; still soaked with the untold gallons of water poured into his family's business by the fire hoses and water cannons used to battle the blaze.
Aycock points to where his office once was, the rubble too unstable to get near it. He nods to where curtains once hung over the showroom entrance. His wife and daughters had just washed and re-hanged them a few weeks before the blaze.
"I got the phone call at six-forty-something. I was actually around there at the Cookout, and I was headed back this way when I got the phone call," he said.
As he drew closer to the business, he could already see that this was more than just a small fire. When the building came into full view, he saw that things were worse than he could have imagined.
"A bunch of smoke, a bunch of fire coming out that window. A bunch of firemen already ..." Aycock's voice again trails off.
Another throat clear. Another long pause.
"Years of work," he said.
He took comfort in the fact that the employees were gone for the day, that the loss would be only bricks, mortar and equipment.
His brother was out doing road assistance working on a tractor.
Aycock called Brad and told him to quit what he was doing and come on back.
"We got a fire," he said.
*
The Aycock Tractor family is not just those who share the last name.
Soon after word reached the employees and their families, they gathered to watch, and to comfort each other, arm in arm, wiping away tears.
Vehicles lined the stretch of U.S. 117 Bypass that skirts past the service road on which the tractor supply and neighboring businesses sit. The smoke was visible for miles.
After an hour or so, the fire seemed to be under control. As firefighters worked to move inside though, it rekindled. And when it did, it spread to what eventually became an eight-alarm fire.
Trucks from nearly every neighboring fire district were called in to help the city department contain the blaze. More water was required than could be obtained from the fire hydrants along the roadway because they all pull from the same waterline. Drop tanks had to be erected and a carrousel of pumpers were used to refill them throughout the night.
The fire burned from about 6:30 p.m. until after midnight, with the Aycock family and their employees watching.
Russell and his brother were there, too.
A lot went through Russell's mind that night, but one thought dominated the rest.
"What next?" he said.
At about 2 a.m., Wayne County Sheriff Larry Pierce -- himself a former fire investigator for the Sheriff's Office and for the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation -- told Aycock to go on home. There was nothing more he could do there and it was time for him to start getting the insurance companies involved.
"Tomorrow's going to be a long day," Aycock recalls Pierce telling him.
*
It was obvious quickly that the Aycock family was not alone.
Throughout the night the community response was tremendous, Russell said.
Western Sizzlin -- the owner has a daughter in this year's Wayne County Firefighters Association's annual Fire Princess Pageant, as does Aycock -- brought out food and tea to the site.
And that was just one of many offers of support and help.
Russell and his family did not realize until days later, while looking at the news clippings online and going on Facebook, just how many people had come by the night of the fire.
He said that to this day, volunteer firefighters run into Aycock when he and his family are out eating somewhere. They ask him when he is going to reopen and tell him they were there that night.
Aycock tells them he never closed. He tells them he has continued taking calls for service via cell phone since his landlines were knocked out by the blaze.
He wants them to know his family will rebuild.
And there is something else.
"If you could tell them anything for me," he begins.
Another pause.
"Tell those firemen I said thanks," he finishes, again having to collect himself. Not one to show emotion outwardly, Aycock turns and walks away.
"Come on back this way," he says over his shoulder. "We'll go find Mr. Floyd."
*
Floyd Sauls, 71, has worked at Aycock for 36 years.
"I was born here," he says, a smile crossing his face.
The Aycocks paid for all of Sauls' training -- Wayne Community College, the University of Georgia, Greensboro College, East Carolina University -- probably about five or six different colleges.
He was there the night of the fire.
"I was one of the first ones here, other than Russell," he said.
Sauls spent much of that evening telling fire department officials about the layout of the building, how to unlock some of the doors and where potential hazards were.
"I sat there and I looked at it and I said, '36 years gone up in smoke,'" Sauls said.
And his thoughts turned to the Aycock family. He knows how hard it is to lose everything -- and how much the family has invested.
"They put their whole heart and souls into it," he said.
It wasn't easy to watch the blaze.
"There was a lump in my throat. It took a while to get it out," Sauls said.
But he knows something else, too, a lesson learned from years of dealing with farmers who might have had a bad year, but who head back out to the fields, to another planting with the hope of another harvest.
He is waiting for the day when the new Aycock Tractor Supply opens its doors.
"I hope I'm still around to see it," he said.
So, he will continue to work the long hours, to be there for his boss and his customers.
And he will wait to see what comes next.
"I am really happy for them to get back up," he said. "It kind of lit my candle back up."
He says he would like to be there to celebrate the new beginning that he hopes he will see.
And Russell Aycock and his family promise, he will.