Wadesboro Council approves burning of abandoned houses

WADESBORO —The Mayor and Town Council members convened for their monthly meeting on Nov. 2, approving a live-burn and the demolition of abandoned houses.

In the summer of 2019, Town Council Manager David Edwards hired an intern who helped make a list of all the abandoned houses in the town. This intern complied a list of about 75 houses, mostly between 60 and 70 years old.

Two of these houses have been signed over to the town, and now the fire department will use both houses as a live-burn training site in the spring.

Firemen can receive certifications through these live-burn trainings. A team will set the house on fire and another will work on putting it out. The firemen can go in after the fire is put out to investigate how the fire started.

There are about two to three house demos a year, according to Edwards. This is an opportunity to not only cheaply remove abandoned houses in the town, but it is an easy way for the fire department to become better trained.

Once the house is demolished, the lot will be cleaned up and it could possibly be sold as a vacant lot. The idea of removing these abandoned or nuisance houses is to beautify the town.

The same goes for the abandoned vehicles. The council discussed a process of notifying residents to remedy their vehicles that are clearly no longer usable, in order to improve the curb appeal. If the problem is not fixed in a specific time frame, the town may step in.

“After a certain amount of time, we will have the opportunity to sell for scrap, or a tow company could keep it,” Edwards said.

Edwards also announced during the meeting the police department officially received an award letter of $25,000. This award comes from the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission and the money will go towards purchasing ruggedized laptops in police cars. These specific laptops will last much longer in the cars compared to the commercial off-shelf laptops the department uses now.