Remembering Shelby's Five: The W Warren fire of May 1979

By Chuck Thompson | The Sunday Column

OPINION  — Memorial Day Weekend is the unofficial start to summer, with trips to the beach, a lake, the mountains, or just having friends and family over to your home to grill burgers and hotdogs in the back yard, and while most people seem to forget the 1,200,000 Americans who died while serving during conflicts, but they seem to remember them more than first responders who, while maybe not in combat, definitely in conflict, died protecting their community from the hazards of crime and fire.

May 25, 1979, at 100 West Warren Street, was both a crime and fire, where dozens of civilians were injured in some way or another as firefighters, and one city gas employee, gave their lives to protect the innocent from a deadly fire that would ultimate take the lives of a gas worker and four brave firefighters.

It was a Friday. People were Uptown Shelby shopping the Memorial Day weekend sales and preparing to enjoy the three-day weekend, when, as reports indicate, at around 6:15 that evening people began to notice black smoke rising from the back of a store near the corner of W Warren and S. Lafayette.

Firefighters soon rushed to the scene unaware of the fate that was about to be bestowed upon them and the burden that would be placed on their families and friends that is still felt today by many.

As firefighters fought back the flames, an explosion rocked the block, damaging other nearby businesses, destroying cars parked on the side of the street, injuring up to 30 or more people who had gathered to watch as the firefighters gallantly battle the blaze, plus injuring 12 other firefighters, and claiming the lives of four Shelby firefighters and a City of Shelby gas employee.

Firefighters, Nathan C. Hall, George L. Magness, Donald E. “Gene” Melton and Floyd P. “Nick” Sharts, and city employee Max P. Bowling paid the ultimate sacrifice that day.

These brave men, dedicated to their duty, lost their lives at the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, protecting their community from a vile act of criminal intent, and for that they deserve their place among all those Cleveland County residents who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Armed with axes and fire hoses, they fought as bravely as any solider at the Battles of Kings Mountain in 1780, New Orleans in 1815, Gettysburg 1863, San Juan Hill 1898, The Meuse-Argonne Offensive 1918, Normandy 1944, Inchon 1950, Ir Dang 1965, or Mosul and Fallujah in 2004.   

All Cleveland County first responders who died in the line of duty deserve the same admiration and remembrance. Please forgive me for not making this about all of them, but it is - in a way.

While their families, friends and fellow firefighters still carry the pain of their absence and the scars of that fateful day, let us not forget those brave few who rushed into danger, knowing any call could be their last. We honor them this weekend and all Americans who gave their life in the service of our nation, in service to their family, their friends and to protect their community, so that we may enjoy this weekend in the ghosts of memories, in reverence to their legacies, on a horrific day that never should have happened, Friday, May 25, 1979.

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