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Cape Hatteras National Seashore Superintendent Dave Hallac presented Kill Devil Hills Fire Chief Troy Tilley with a plaque of appreciation for his leadership during the aftermath of the tragic plane crash on September 28.

Hallac was notified about the accident and quickly made his way to First Flight Airport at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills.

By the time he arrived, Hallac said there was “almost no smoke in the sky and that’s because, under Chief Tilly’s leadership as the incident commander, he and his team, along with many other emergency responders, put that fire out extremely quickly and safely.”

No emergency responders were injured, Hallac reported.

This plane crashed in an undeveloped forest and a post-crash fire ensued, causing some of the nearby brush and trees to catch fire. “It could have caused a threat to the neighborhood—to the entire community,” Hallac said.

Hallac said when he arrived at the scene, Chief Tilley already had his whiteboard on the back of his truck with the tailgate open and had “incredible command of the scene.”  Tilley was helping to coordinate between 50 and 100 emergency responders.

The crash, Hallac said, was a traumatic event and was perhaps one of the largest events that’s occurred in Dare County and in Kill Devil Hills.

“I just want to tell you how much your partnership means to us,” Hallac said to the KDH commissioners and to the fire department. “How much your hard work and leadership meant to us that night and how nice it is to know that we have such strong support from the town.”

After being presented with his plaque of appreciation, Chief Tilley was quick to share the credit with the following local agencies: KDH law enforcement, Colington Volunteer Fire Department, Kitty Hawk Fire Department, North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Dare County EMS, Emergency Management and the staff of the National Park Service.

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