What began as a wellness check on some family members in western North Carolina turned into a days-long search-and-rescue mission for volunteer helicopter pilot Zeb Hadley.
Hadley, a private helicopter owner and CEO of Raleigh-based commercial and industrial painting company National Coatings, ended up saving an 11-day-old baby who was born prematurely just before Hurricane Helene struck the Appalachian region.
"I actually received a text message from our lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, and he said, 'Hey Zeb, I know you have a helicopter. Can you please stop in Franklin County and talk to the sheriff's department and talk to Kevin White?' The sheriff asked how I could help him run some missions for McDowell County, and after that, we just kind of went on our own little search and rescue because we saw how bad the devastation was," Hadley explained.
Hadley stayed in the area for seven days and flew his helicopter for approximately 60 hours. He added that he typically puts about 100 miles on his helicopter per year for work.
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"So we did seven months worth of flying in seven days," Hadley said.
On Sept. 30, three days after the worst of Helene struck in the early morning hours of Sept. 27, Hadley and two others, Florida State Guardsman Jonathan Howard and Aerial Recovery's Charlie Keebaugh, were sent on a mission to rescue what they were told was a 1-year-old baby "in a life or death situation."
They immediately deployed to the area where the baby was located via helicopter, and a paramedic "got the baby stabilized on oxygen."
"And when we landed, we realized that the baby was not a year old. Then we found out it was 11 days old, born premature, and had just gotten home four days prior," Hadley said. "The baby was blue. Thank God just all of this came together."
The three men then transported the baby to Mission Hospital, where they landed on the roof, ultimately saving the 11-day-old child's life.
"That was actually our first rescue mission," Hadley recalled.
He also went on to rescue a family living in a hard-to-reach area of Bent Creek in the North Carolina mountains.
"Jonathan Howard spotted S.O.S. in mud. And as we got closer, we saw S.O.S. written on concrete blue-and-white spray paint," Hadley said. "We landed in there, dropped some supplies, and we were able to extract and rescue an 87-year-old lady who was probably on about one day left of oxygen, took her to her two kids and her dog out of there. And we checked in on those people about four days later."
Hadley remembered seeing a New York State Police task force hiking on foot in the Bent Creek area at the same time, trying to clear debris in roadways to create a path for four-wheelers. What took them nearly four hours to hike, the four-wheelers could drive in about 25 minutes on the cleared path, Hadley said.
The National Coatings CEO said he never thought he'd be part of a search-and-rescue team, but he saw an obvious need after Helene that he couldn't turn his back to.
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"From assessing the roadways, it could be six months to a year before they even have the roads to even have power. And there are parts of bridges, both wood structure and concrete and steel structure, that were still in the river in front of their houses," Hadley said. "You could smell rotting flesh, and I'm not sure if it was human or cattle or pets, but I do know that area. … It's a different experience than a hurricane at the beach."
Hadley added that his experience helping others and seeing other volunteers donate time, services and supplies to those in need has "restored a sense of faith in humanity" for him.
"I think our country's at a great divide. Especially right now in election season, there's so many people that are like, 'I'm a Democrat, I'm a Republican, I'm this, I'm that.' And to me, this was people helping people. No one cared about anything. People came from New York, from Missouri, from Alabama, from Florida, from California, Louisiana. … And no one complained. Everybody was just grabbing buckets, grabbing chainsaws, lifting hands, moving pallets."
The death toll for Hurricane Helene has surpassed 250, including more than 90 victims in North Carolina. More than 20 are still missing in the Tarheel State.
