MARSTON — Some grass on the property of Rockingham Speedway was singed Monday afternoon after a controlled burn got out of hand.
Brandon Van Buren, county ranger with the N.C. Forest Service, said someone there was a controlled burn in a grass field near the track and the fire jumped a containment line around 5:30 p.m.
It took crews from the Forest Service and Hoffman Fire Department about an hour to get it contained, according to Van Buren.
No homes or structures were damaged, he added.
Online records with the Forest Service show about a half-acre was burned. There was also a small fire in Scotland County and a 20-acre fire in Montgomery County.
According to the National Weather Service, winds were around 9 mph out of the southwest just before 7 p.m.
Van Buren said wind was the main contributing factor to Monday's fire getting out of control. He encourages residents to refrain from burning during windy conditions.
The ranger added that with the area's sandy soil, it only takes a few days after rainfall for things to dry out.
Late last year, around 185 wildfires burned nearly 415 acres in the Piedmont and Sandhills from Nov. 7-19 and a burn ban was subsequently issued, lasting Nov. 29-Dec. 13.
There was also a burn ban issued in late May. Just days before, a fire in Gum Swamp burned about 100 acres off the sandy section of Cognac Road after someone burned a car and the previous weekend, two close-by fires burned about 60 acres off County Home Road between the Ninth Grade Academy and Plastek.
