Search, fires make for busy days

An early-morning search and an afternoon brush fire kept personnel busy Sept. 22.  It all began around 4:30 a.m.

Unattended campfire spreads into woods

Milltown – Despite recent rains and a rapid greening of woodlands, the spring fire season is still with us at least for a while. Local firefighters with Graham County Fire and Rescue – as well as the N.C. and U.S. Forest services – responded to a small brush fire around 5:10 p.m., April 30.

After the fire

Graham County has experienced one of its busiest spring fire seasons this year, as firefighters were constantly busy with brush fires in March and April – with several of those threatening structures.

Fires continue

There was little rest for the weary, as U.S. Forest Service firefighters were atop Graham County’s highest mountain – Big Huckleberry – off the Cherohala Skyway on March 10.  A campfire had escaped into the grassy area and was controlled after burning less than an acre.

More snowfall, more … brush fires?

Santeetlah – Apparently, the saying “history repeats itself” is true: the last two snowfalls in Graham County have both been followed by brush fires in the same weeks.  Maybe the next time it snows, firefighters will be tempted to grab fire rakes instead of snow shovels. Shortly after 3 p.m.

Brush fire follows snowfall

Tuskeegee – As an example of how quickly mountain weather can change, locals experienced snowfall and a brush fire in the same week. Graham County 911 was notified of a brush fire near Whiteside Gap Road in the Lower Sawyers Creek area around 1:20 p.m., Jan. 15.

Spring brush fires continue to spark

The woods may be “greening up,” but spring fire season is not over just yet. The Graham County 911 Center received a report of a brush fire burning on Upper Tuskegee Road around 7 p.m., April 23. The caller had stated the blaze was the “size of a baseball field.

Brush fire threatens home

Robbinsville – Firefighters with the Graham County Fire Department, N.C. Forest Service and U.S. Forest Service responded to an out-of-control brush fire on Dillard Orr Road around 6:20 p.m. Nov. 29.

Rain halts brush fires

Rain that began falling on Good Friday put a stop to the brush fires that have become an almost daily occurrence – at least temporarily. There were two more brush fires before the rain arrived. A debris-burning fire escaped control on Long Creek Road around 1 p.m. on April 4.