Typical West Virginia Boys and Red Lights
Before the tragedy, Rick Honaker and Greg Carter were just two young guys working shifts together and having fun in small-town West Virginia. They first met around 1988 while working at Crawford’s Food Center in Fairley, West Virginia, alongside their friend Billy Burns. Outside of work, they spent their weekends driving trucks, listening to music, tuning cars, and getting into harmless mischief. Both of them quickly caught the firefighting bug, equipping their personal vehicles with red lights and sirens so they could race to the station whenever calls came in.
“We were just your typical teenage West Virginia boys. We liked cars and girls and music, and we’d go out and have a little bit of fun.”
As Rick recalled, Greg was a character with a heart of gold and huge “ham hawk” hands, coming from a well-respected local family of mechanics and firefighters. Whether climbing into a local wrestling ring after a bad guy wrestler spit in his face or working late hours in the auto shop, Greg was always right in the middle of the action.
The Day Crawford’s Food Center Went Up in Smoke
On January 21, 1998, everything changed when the emergency tones sounded across Greenbrier County. A four-alarm fire had ignited at Crawford’s Food Center, filling the grocery store with thick smoke. Greg was working nearby at Greenbrier Motors when the fire started and rushed inside to help locate the source. Inside the dense, blinding smoke, Greg became disoriented and issued a Mayday call before losing contact with crews outside.
“There was stuff going off in there. It was as close to hell as I ever want to get.”
When Rick arrived on scene with the Alderson Fire Department, he put on his gear and went into the burning building to find his friend. Heat inside had reached extreme temperatures, melting structural I-beams while aerosol cans and freon tanks exploded around them. Pushing through intense heat and smoke, Rick and his partner Mike Vandal navigated the scorching interior until they finally located Greg.
A Lasting Legacy and the Call for Volunteers
Carrying Greg out of the building was a moment that reshaped the entire local community. A memorial bell now stands in front of the site, and Greg’s name is honored at the Fallen Firefighters Memorials in both Charleston and Washington, D.C.. Despite the heartache, the tragedy created an unbreakable bond among the firefighters, first responders, and townspeople who supported one another through the aftermath.
“This tragedy made a lot of us closer, and to this day, we’re still close.”
Today, small-town volunteer fire departments across the country face severe shortages of volunteers and funding. Rick emphasizes that you do not have to fight interior fires to make a difference in your local fire house. Whether driving emergency vehicles, helping with administrative tasks, or delivering water and meals during prolonged calls, every volunteer keeps these vital community departments alive.
Want to hear all the personal stories, West Virginia history, and heartfelt memories directly from the person who lived them? Check out the full video interview for the complete, unfiltered conversation!
