A local fire official in western North Carolina threatened to arrest a heroic pilot who was rescuing victims of Hurricane Helene.
Bureaucracy is getting people killed. A helicopter pilot out of South Carolina who volunteered his support to help the flood-ravaged residents of NC has been threatened with arrest if he continues his rescue missions.
Jordan Seidhom has been flying out stranded residents over… pic.twitter.com/7DvksueFvp
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) October 2, 2024
Jordan Seidhom, a South Carolina pilot, revealed in an interview with Queen City News that he had successfully transported supplies to the area to give to hurricane victims and was also using his helicopter to rescue people who were stranded from the flooding.
After he began his rescue efforts, Seidhom was inundated with requests for help, prompting him to plan a second day of airlifting victims to safety.
Bringing his son along as his copilot, Siedhom was rescuing a couple from a dangerous situation. However, he could only rescue one person at a time, so he left his son with the husband and transported the wife to safety. After arriving with the wife at a parking lot near Lake Lure Flowering Bridge, Seidhom spoke with a group of first responders.
“Once we landed where emergency personnel were, I was met by a fire chief or maybe a captain, and he asked me who I was. I told him who I was, who I was with, just a local volunteer,” Seidhom, who is also a volunteer firefighter, told the outlet.
He explained his background to the group of first responders and discovered that they were also from out-of-state and had been assisting with rescue efforts. However, the pilot was soon met with a rude local fire official — who threatened to arrest him if he dared to return to rescue more stranded victims, despite the fact that Seidhom had previously spoken to authorities at the Charlotte-Douglas Airport and local authorities about his rescue efforts.
“He originally asked me who I was. I gave him the same information, who I was with, my background experience, law enforcement, and firefighting. And his response was, if you have that kind of experience, you should know that you should be coordinating with us. And I said, I’ve been coordinating with everybody as I’ve been here just the day before, speaking with local law enforcement, other rescue personnel,” he told the Queen City News.
Seidhom then informed the official that he was going to head back to retrieve his son and the remaining victim, but would leave the area afterward to avoid any issues. However, the official demanded that he leave his own son behind.
“I’m going back and getting my copilot,” Seidhom said he told the man. “He said, ‘If you turn around and go back up the mountain, you’re going to be arrested.’ I said, ‘Well, sir, I’m going back to get my copilot, I don’t know what to tell you.’”
Unfortunately, Seidhom was so afraid of being arrested that he left the remaining victim behind after explaining the issue, though he did pick his son up.
Seidhom later learned that a temporary flight restriction had been set up in the area within a half hour of the arrest threat. This restriction was ultimately lifted the following day, prompting Seidhom to continue his rescue efforts.
The pilot told the Queen City News that he wished he had ignored the official’s threats and continued to help rescue more people.
“I’m sorry, if I had to do it over again, I would have stopped and I would have rescued as many people until they decided they were going to arrest me,” Seidhom said.
NEW: Volunteer firefighter using his helicopter to rescue Hurricane Helene victims was threatened with arrest while helping an elderly couple
Jordan Seidhom had just rescued Susan Coffey from her home and left his son Landon with her husband at their property
His plan was to… pic.twitter.com/LgYAVArMjR
— Unlimited L's (@unlimited_ls) October 2, 2024
