Home Local News Drought leads to burn ban in western N.C.; caution urged in Richmond...

Drought leads to burn ban in western N.C.; caution urged in Richmond County

The ground smolders in Gum Swamp on May 21 from a fire that started the previous day.
RO file photo

ROCKINGHAM — Several counties in western North Carolina are under a burn ban and Richmond County could join them.

On Sunday, the N.C. Forest Service announced a ban on open burning and the issuance of burn permits for 14 counties — Burke, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Graham, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, McDowell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain and Transylvania.

The ban for those counties is in effect until further notice.

“Several counties in Western North Carolina are currently in a severe drought, and we are seeing wildfire activity increase due to dry conditions. Because dry conditions are expected to continue this burn ban is necessary to reduce the risk of fires starting and spreading quickly. Our top priority is always to protect lives, property and forestland across the state,” Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said in a press release.

County Ranger Brandon Van Buren said Monday that while Richmond County is currently not under a ban, there is potential due to dry conditions and low humidity.

The last measurable rainfall the county received, according to Van Buren, was close to an inch on Oct. 20.

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According to the N.C. Forest Service, there were nine fires to burn a total of 3.5 acres on Nov. 2 in District 3, which includes Richmond, Anson Chatham, Lee, Moore, Montgomery, Scotland and Stanly counties.

The Public Wildfire Viewer shows four wildfires in Richmond County from Nov. 2-5 that burned less than an acre combined.

So far this year more than 3,600 fires have burned 15806.9 acres of state and private property across the state.

“Even though not all areas of … North Carolina fall under the burn ban, we do encourage extreme caution with any burning as conditions are dry in many areas of the state,” Troxler said. “We will continue to assess conditions in the coming weeks to determine if we need to expand the burn ban.”



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