"Well it was rising so high until, I think, not only we but the firemen were overwhelmed. And they had never experienced anything like that before. And they were not really prepared. So they didn't know, you know, really they did the best they knew how trying to get us out. But I don't think that they really thought it was going to be like it was."
Interview with Charlie Thompson, Dec 8, 1999. Southern Oral History Project, UNC.