Santeetlah – Local firefighters were kept busy throughout Friday, battling a house fire and brush fire at the same time.
What started as a smoke investigation turned out to be a large residential fire – with adjacent property also ablaze – at 3744 Santeetlah Road, below Santeetlah Gap and in the vicinity of Blue Boar Lodge.
Firefighters from Graham County Fire and Rescue – including the Snowbird unit – plus N.C. Forest Service, U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs responded. Upon arrival at the scene, crews found the home fully engulfed by a fire, which had also spread to nearby woods.
The blaze was contained around 1 p.m., after burning two acres of tribal land. A family member stated that no one had lived in the home for almost four years and the electricity had been turned off.
Graham County is still in the grips of a prolonged drought. The N.C. Forest Service has been operating at a Readiness Plan 4 in preparation for brush fires with five being the highest plan. The fire danger is rated as "extreme."
In addition to a statewide and a local burn ban – both of which are still in effect – the U.S. Forest Service announced Tuesday that all open burning and campfires outside of developed recreation sites within North Carolina's four national forests (Croatan, Nantahala, Pisgah and Uwharrie) would go into effect Wednesday.
The announcement noted that commercially-available fuel stoves – such as portable propane camp stoves or covered, charcoal grills – are still permitted to be used, as are grills, metal fire rings and fire pits provided by the forest service.
Publisher/editor Kevin Hensley also contributed to this report.