Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

Be Careful with Fireworks This Weekend

Forest Service Warns of Dry Conditions

Story by Corinne Saunders

Fire concerns statewide are more pronounced than usual for this time of year, according to Rudy Johnson, Watauga County Forest Ranger for the N.C. Forest Service.

“We usually don’t have a lot of trouble with fires in the summer,” Johnson said. Most fires typically occur during the spring and fall fire seasons, he explained, but because of dry conditions, the area is continuing to see fires into the summer.

Area rainfall has been uneven, with Boone receiving more rain than other parts of the county. “[It’s] extremely dry off the Parkway—they haven’t been getting the rain we have,” Johnson said. The driest parts of Watauga County include Triplett, Sampson, Dugger, Blackberry, Globe and Stony Fork.

The Fourth of July will add fireworks to the already-ripe conditions for new fires. “We’ve had several fires in the past [started from fireworks],” Johnson said. “I wanted to caution people not to shoot fireworks into the woods.” Johnson advised shooting them into open, green fields instead.

No burning ban is currently in effect in the High Country, but after a recent fire resulted from a burn pile, Johnson reminds people to be cautious.

“Don’t leave burning brush unattended; keep on hand tools like rakes, shovels or a water hose to keep everything wet around the fire,” he said. “We recommend digging a three-foot-wide fire line around the brush pile down to dirt…to keep it from spreading [and] make sure the fire is out before leaving it.”

On June 24, a resident of Lost Ridge Road burned a brush pile in the morning, thought the fire was completely out and left, but hot coals and embers escaped, spread into the woods and started a two- to three-acre forest fire, Johnson said.

A forest observation plane spotted the fire off Lost Ridge Road and Sampson Road, and in addition to Johnson, firefighters and trucks responded from Blowing Rock, Stewart Simmons and Boone fire departments. Five personnel and one truck came from the Watauga County Rescue Squad; they brought water and snacks for the firefighters.

The Blowing Rock Ladies Auxiliary brought dinner for the firefighters, who worked until 11:00 p.m. to build fire lines around the entire fire and lay out a water hose system around the perimeter for mop up, Johnson said.

The firefighters returned the next day and worked from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
“It took a whole lot of work for two whole days to put it out,” Johnson said. The man who started the brush pile fire received a ticket for letting the fire escape his control.

Johnson’s main concerns associated with fires include the threat to houses and structures in the woods and the possibility of firefighters being injured.

“We rely heavily on volunteer firemen in Watauga County. They help us a tremendous amount [and] one of the things I’m most concerned about is one of them getting hurt [by] big snags burning and falling on [them] or [by] falling down a steep, rocky slope,” Johnson said.

Snags are dry, dead trees that catch fire very easily, he explained.

“About a half a dozen snags had to be brought down [at the Lost Ridge fire]. They may pop off at the stump and fall any which way,” Johnson said, adding that these dead trees and their limbs are the most common source of injuries to firefighters.

Additional threats to firefighters are heat exhaustion and the possibility of a heart attack.

“We’ve had a [firefighter] have a heart attack in the past; it’s hot and [they are] working harder than they might realize,” he said.