Santeetlah – Both the Graham County Fire and Rescue and the N.C. Forest Service were dispatched around 9:30 p.m., Saturday to a brush fire burning along N.C. 143, roughly one mile west of the Cherohala Skyway.
Firefighters from the Snowbird unit reached the blaze first and were able to extinguish it quickly. The fire burned less than an acre of Cherokee Tribal land.
U.S. Forest Service firefighters checked the fire Sunday and reported that it was still out.
The westernmost counties of North Carolina – including Graham County – were listed by the U.S. Drought Monitor as being in a "severe" (D2) drought at press time. Eighty counties fell under this classification. Seven counties – Cabarrus, Edgecombe, Halifax, Nash, Northampton, Stanly and Union – were classified as being under an "extreme" (D3) drought.
Both the U.S. and N.C. Forest Services encourage residents to not do any outdoor burning on dry, windy days.
Publisher/editor Kevin Hensley also contributed to this report.