Firefighters from Montana, Oregon join as Bee Rock Creek Fire exceeds 500 acres
More firefighters are providing extra assistance as the Bee Rock Creek Fire in McDowell County has grown to more than 500 acres with 10% containment Thursday evening.
By Marc Liverman
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MCDOWELL COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — More firefighters are providing extra assistance as the Bee Rock Creek Fire in McDowell County has grown to more than 500 acres with 10% containment Thursday evening.
Over the last 24 hours, the wildfire had gotten close enough to some homes that residents who live nearby were being asked to evacuate.
On Wednesday, an evacuation order was issued for residents along Wild Acres Road. More than 175 firefighters from as far away as Montana and Oregon are battling this blaze, working 10-to-16-hour shifts.
As for safety, crews on the front lines aren’t just concerned with what’s on the ground but they’re looking out for what’s overhead too. There’s always the risk of a burnt tree coming down.
“They go along these lines and look at trees and cut them down so that if they were to catch on fire, they wouldn’t fall over and catch the other side of the containment line on fire,” said Dana Hodde, a public information officer with the US Forest Service.
After all the debris left behind from Helene, the work for firefighters starts even before wildfire season does.
“Our firefighters on the Grandfather Ranger district work to clear a lot of roads of debris so that during fire season they could come and have access to all these different roads and access these different points,” Hodde added. “It could’ve taken weeks to cut through some of those areas if they hadn’t done so. It was a game changer.”
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