Boys & Girls Homes president dies in home fire: NC officials

The president of the Boys & Ladies Homes of North Carolina died in a fireplace at his household, officers informed news shops.

The fireplace broke out around 1 a.m. Saturday, July 16, at the household on Canal Cove Road in Lake Waccamaw, WECT described. Firefighters have been explained to an individual was potentially inside of and arrived to find “heavy smoke and flames” at the front of the dwelling, Lake Waccamaw Hearth and Rescue Main Brandy Nance told The Information Reporter.

“After the flames were extinguished, units and crews were able to go within and find a person fatality, that becoming a Mr. Ricky Creech of Lake Waccamaw, the president of the Boys and Girls Dwelling,” Nance said, according to WECT.

Two pet dogs that labored at the Boys & Women Households also died in the fire, according to The News Reporter.

Officials instructed WECT that the fireplace is beneath investigation but that they don’t suspect foul enjoy. No other facts about the blaze experienced been unveiled as of Sunday, July 17.

The Boys & Ladies Residences of North Carolina offers “residential and group-primarily based services” to little ones who have been abused or neglected, in accordance to its Facebook page.

The nonprofit was recognized in 1954 and is “dedicated to supplying a continuum of treatment to fulfill the actual physical, emotional, psychological, behavioral, social, academic and spiritual demands of young children, youth and people in distress or at-danger,” its web page claims.

Creech became president and CEO in October 2020, Columbus County News documented.

Dave Wyatt, the nonprofit’s board of trustees chairman, claimed in a July 16 information launch naming an performing president and CEO that Creech’s “fearless management and enthusiasm for the youth and people in our treatment will be sorely skipped.”

“We keep his relatives in our prayers,” Wyatt said. ”We know that the youngsters served by BGHNC were being his priority and he would want the operate to keep on.”

Creech experienced a wife and 3 daughters, according to his biography on the nonprofit’s internet site.

“My coronary heart breaks at the decline of Ricky Creech,” a single individual commented on a Fb submit from the nonprofit. “Prayers for his household, buddies, the staff members and residents of BGHNC! A tragic reduction!”

The Paws4Individuals basis, which trains aid canines, claimed in a Facebook publish that the two dogs killed were being its facility puppies Zara and Kiawah. Creech was their handler.

“Our feelings are with the entirety of the Boys and Ladies Dwelling of North Carolina,” the firm wrote. “As we process this tragedy, we check with that you make sure you maintain our workers, trainers, and volunteers in your feelings and prayers, as lots of persons performed a element of making ready ZARA and KIAWAH for their crucial work.”

People today commented on the organization’s write-up providing condolences.

“Praying for every person associated,” just one human being wrote. “What a awful reduction.”

“This news certainly hurts the heart… Sending adore and light-weight to you all and the people touched by this awful incident,” yet another human being wrote.

Lake Waccamaw is in southeastern North Carolina, about 130 miles from Raleigh.

Bailey Aldridge is a reporter covering actual-time information in North and South Carolina. She has a diploma in journalism from the College of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.