Public Safety

A new program in Galax teaches citizens emergency skills necessary to keep their families safe and take care of their neighbors during crisis situations.
A $6,000 grant from Homeland Security funds the nationwide Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program, which pays for training for the instructors and equipment to teach the course.

LAUREL FORK — Firefighters searched into Tuesday evening for the owner of a home at 21 Ivas Lane after his doublewide was destroyed in an afternoon blaze.
Friends and family did not know the whereabouts of the man after firefighters from Laurel Fork and Hillsville spent much of the afternoon extinguishing the flames.
Fortunately, the home owner, Kenneth Handy, returned home after being out of town for the day as firefighters were leaving for the night, according to Larry Sykes of Laurel Fork Fire Department.

WOODLAWN — A Wednesday afternoon fire destroyed a home at 173 Arabian Lane.

Hillsville and Galax firefighters responded to the scene, but much of the home was already consumed by the flames by the time they arrived.

Hillsville Fire Chief Donnie Spangler said there were no injuries reported and no one was in the house at the time of the fire.

The cause is undetermined. The house is a total loss.

The Gazette will post more details as they become available.

LAUREL FORK — A driver was injured and more than 300 gallons of diesel fuel were spilled around 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday after a tractor-trailer plowed into a vehicle on U.S. 58 in Laurel Fork.
According to a Virginia State Police report, 54-year-old Randy Bowman of Meadows of Dan had to be airlifted from the scene. Bowman was traveling west on 58 when he stopped his Ford F-150 pickup truck to turn in to the Laurel Fork Post Office.
As Bowman turned, a tractor-trailer traveling behind his vehicle was not able to stop.