WATAUGA COUNTY, N.C. -- The couple who died Wednesday night after a landslide and gas explosion demolished a home in Watauga County has been identified.
NBC Charlotte has learned James Lanford, 68 and Audri Landford, 66, had more than a dozen companies in their names, and they were married in 1980.
Emergency crews responded to a call of a structure collapse on Pine Ridge Road in Boone a little after 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to officials. Upon arrival, rescuers began searching for two people who were reportedly in the house at the time of the collapse.
Authorities later found the two victims deceased in the rubble. Police told NBC Charlotte no one else was in the home.
Several agencies responded to the scene:
- Boone Fire Department
- Boone Police Department
- Blowing Rock Fire Department
- Blowing Rock Police Department
- Watauga Sheriff’s Office
- Watauga Medic
- Watauga Rescue
- Watauga County Emergency Management
- Watauga County Communications
- Boone Public Works Department
- Blowing Rock Public Works Department
- Red Cross
- Foscoe Fire Department
- Cove Creek Fire Department
- Linville Central Rescue Squad
- Fleetwood Fire Department
- Champion Fire Department
- Caldwell County Emergency Services
- Lenoir Fire Department
- Clairmont Fire Department
- Alexander County Rescue Squad
- USAR Taskforce - Buncome County