Town of Aberdeen & Habitat Work Together on Blyther Street Burn

Aberdeenn, NC, May 20, 2009 --(PR.com)-- The Blyther family watched as their old homeplace burned and although the memories were bittersweet, two of the sisters were happy to see the neighborhood improving. Two dilapidated abandoned houses, occupied years ago by Blyther family members, were burned to the ground by the Town of Aberdeen and other local fire fighters in a practice exercise on April 28th. The burns were the result of a joint effort of the town of Aberdeen and Habitat for Humanity of the NC Sandhills to clean up the abandoned properties in the Berkley community. This is just one of the partnerships between the Town and Habitat, working together over the last several years to revitalize communities in Aberdeen.

The Town has been extending water and sewer services to un-served communities in Aberdeen and throughout the extra territorial jurisdiction over the last seven years. The Town of Aberdeen received Community Development Assistance funding to extend water and sewer services to seven Habitat homes on Bonsal Way. Habitat received a bequest from a local Aberdeen family to build the road. Now seven families occupy attractive, safe, affordable homes and live in the community on land that had previously been overgrown woods.

The abandoned homes were a concern of the town, the neighborhood and the new Habitat homeowners and needed to be removed. Due to budget cuts and issues related to the current economy, Habitat and the town of Aberdeen worked together and split the costs of debris removal after the fire department used the houses for training exercises.

The burn was beneficial for both as it not only allowed the town of Aberdeen to cleanup a neighborhood but gave the firefighters the chance to implement exercises they may need to use in fighting fires for town safety. The actual burns took approximately 9 hours to complete. That does not include all the hours fire departments spent to prepare the houses and set up the hoses and other equipment. Many hours also go into preplanning; measuring, and drawing the buildings. Live burn training exercises actually take several weeks to plan and coordinate but are valuable tools in training firefighters.

The two houses on Blyther Street, behind Bonsal Way were eyesores in the community and had even been occupied by homeless squatters for a time. The Berkley community members, in addition to the news neighbors on Bonsal Way now live in a cleaner, nicer, safer environment.

Habitat for Humanity is committed to building quality homes that are affordable. Each home that is built has a requirement of 300 hours of sweat equity by the potential home owner, not including the many hours of dedicated work by staff and volunteers that allow a Habitat home to come to fruition. The Habitat families who live in the area know the importance of keeping high standards in their neighborhood.

“It was quite a sight to see—all of the fire trucks, firefighters, community members watching as the Town worked to clean up the homes that had sat empty for quite some time. The Town of Aberdeen works very hard to be sure that community standards are maintained and that affordable housing opportunities are available to low and moderate income citizens. They are a model of community partnerships to be sure that their neighborhoods are safe, well kept and there are places for people of all incomes to live in their town and outlying areas,” executive director Elizabeth Cox said.

“We continue to work with the Town of Aberdeen on projects such as the Bethune Street revitalization that will be underway in the next few years and are grateful for their commitment to affordable housing and building safe, decent neighborhoods.”

“I also cannot say enough for the firefighters who worked so hard to train the newcomers. Watching what they do, the complexity and thoroughness of their training is truly amazing. The safety precautions firefighters take and the amount of time they spend training is one of the unknown aspects of this brave profession. Not only do they put their lives at risk for our safety, they as a brotherhood work in teams and back-up teams and back up teams for the back up teams to ensure their brother and sister firefighters’ safety. They are truly today’s heroes and are unsung heroes for the amount of on the job training they do,” Cox added.

Thanks to the members of the Berkley community, the Blyther family, the Town of Aberdeen and Habitat, the Berkley community is safer and more attractive. The seven Habitat homes on Bonsal Way are examples of Habitat in action, building homes and communities to revitalize an area. By joining forces, the town, the community members and Habitat have proven that cooperation can improve an area, make it safe, and provide quality affordable housing.

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