An early-morning search and an afternoon brush fire kept personnel busy Sept. 22.
It all began around 4:30 a.m., when Monika Newton – a resident of the Nantahala section of Macon County – called the Graham County 911 Center to report that her 34-year-old husband Jeffrey Colton Newton had gone into the woods near the Big Junction Overlook on the Cherohala Skyway in search of a hunting dog at 4 p.m., Sunday, and had not returned.
A trail in that area provides access to the Big Snowbird area.
Monika said that the last contact with him was about seven hours earlier by cell phone, when he was at Rock Bar Ridge. He had not taken a light or any provisions with him and had been in a bad storm overnight.
Graham County Fire and Rescue members Tory Lynnes, Brent Eller, Larry Crisp and EMS Director Brian Stevens participated in the mission and were able to make periodic contact with him by cell phone. Lynnes and Eller were able to meet Newton at “The Junction” on Big Snowbird Creek around 11 a.m., Sept. 22. The dog was also found safely.
Around 2 p.m., the same day, firefighters with the N.C. Forest Service, U.S. Forest Service and Graham County Fire and Rescue responded to a brush fire in the Yellow Creek area, near Yellow Creek Baptist Church.
N.C. Forest Service Ranger Frank Cline said the fire was caused by debris burning that escaped into nearby woods. The fire was contained after burning less than an acre of private property.
Sunday, Graham County Fire and Rescue responded to a brush fire on Lower Mountain Creek around 7:45 p.m. Someone was burning an old structure and the fire escaped into a wooded area.
Law enforcement was called to respond when the individual doing the burning blocked the road to prevent the fire truck from getting to the fire.
The road was soon cleared and the fire was stopped after burning a small area.