Forest City hairstylists keep cutting through fire evacuation

FOREST CITY, N.C. (FOX Carolina) - Connie Taylor was in the middle of a haircut Monday night when sirens sent everyone at Hair Castle scattering into the street. “We all heard the sirens and everybody started scattering,” Taylor said. “And we were going out to look to see what was going on. And the police met us on the sidewalk and told us we had to evacuate immediately.” A fire had broken out at a nearby abandoned building. But Taylor, who has worked at Hair Castle for 17 years, didn’t stop working. She finished her client’s hair outside. “We’ve cut hair in the dark. We’ve cut hair with no water,” Taylor said. “We’ve done — now that was the first with the fire.” Three stylists, three clients, one fire Taylor wasn’t the only one who kept working.

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Scoop News DeskForest City · Published Wednesday, September 2, 2026 at 11:48 PM UTCUpdated Friday, September 4, 2026 at 3:39 AM UTC

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And we just ran out,” Hannon said. “I finished doing the color out in the parking lot, bare-handed, red all over my hands.” Hannon said the decision to keep working wasn’t something she thought through. “It was automatic because she had one whole side finished,” Hannon said. “I was like, ‘It’s got to look even, so I got to finish the job.’ We just go on and keep moving and do what we can do.” Kimberly Schalutow, a hairstylist and braider who has worked at Hair Castle for four years, said she lost track of her client for about 20 minutes after the evacuation. “I found him.

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