News

County requested burn ban days before fire broke out

By AMY B. MCCRAW & BILL MOSS, Published: November 8, 2023

Henderson County officials, including Edneyville's Fire & Rescue chief, begged state officials to issue a burning ban in the county days before a brush fire ignited in the Kyle’s Creek area, eventually covering 450 acres and threatening up to 75 homes.

Despite the pleas from emergency officials, the N.C. Forest Service did not impose a burning ban in the county until Sunday — two days after the wildfire started. As of Monday, the fire had destroyed two homes, damaged one, destroyed a shed and burned an abandoned cabin, Henderson County emergency officials said.

Henderson County’s authority to ban outdoor burning is far more limited than the state’s. A county-imposed order can only ban burning in areas within 100 feet of a structure.

County Manager John Mitchell said Monday county officials asked the office of N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler to issue a burning ban several days before the wildfire broke out on Nov 3.

“We advocated for nearly a week,” he said. “My understanding is the state has a rubric they use. It was their contention that rubric had not been met.”

Wildfire was a ‘matter of where, not if’

  Edneyville Fire Department Chief Robert Griffin on Nov. 1 emailed elected leaders in the state, including three who represent Henderson County, asking that they reach out to Troxler for a burning ban.

  In an email he sent to state legislators, Griffin urged the county’s delegation to persuade Troxler to issue the ban. In the message, he warned that conditions were similar to those in November 2016 and accurately forecast that a wildfire like the Party Rock fire could occur.

“My biggest concern is the weather pattern this year has greatly mimicked that of 2016 for our area,” Griffin wrote. “With that said the Party Rock Fire in Lake Lure happened this time of year in 2016. Again with leaf litter piling up and no measurable rain in our area for about eight weeks now and no measurable rain in the forecast we are looking at a matter of where there will be a large fire with great potential to cause harm to homes not if it will happen.”

  State Sen. Tim Moffitt said Monday said that after he received Griffin’s email he contacted Troxler to pass on the fire chief’s concerns.

  “He said he would talk to his folks who track the data,” Moffitt said. “He said conditions were approaching 2016 but they weren’t there yet.”

  Moffitt, whose own home on Bearwallow Mountain is about a “ridge away” from where the fire is burning, planned to talk again with Troxler about the burning ban this week.

“It’s just unfortunate timing,” he said.

N.C. Forest Service is shorthanded

The N.C. Forest Service closely monitors and evaluates weather, fire danger and fuel conditions across the state during the fall fire season, using a Fire Weather Intelligence Portal that looks at past, present and forecasted data to model conditions.  

“Most importantly we rely on feedback from local staff/partners on fuel conditions, activity and the difficulty to control wildfires,” Andrea Ashby, the Agriculture Department’s director of public affairs, said in response to the Lightning’s questions about the burn ban. “This time of year this takes place daily and conditions are always being assessed and considered. This instance was no different. … A burn ban is considered when the long-range forecast indicates weather and forest fire conditions are expected to worsen, and we don’t see improvement relative to the conditions on the ground. In addition we consider resource availability and the difficulty to staff and contain active fires.”

Last week, the N.C. Forest Service leaders “were in regular conversations with Commissioner Troxler regarding ongoing conditions and the likely need to implement a burn ban in the future.” The department imposed the burning ban on Sunday “as conditions at that time warranted that action and based on the recommendations of our N.C. Forest Service staff. “

“In regards to having received this request, I am not aware of anyone with the Forest Service or in the Commissioner’s office having received the letter or email” from Chief Griffin or county officials, the department said. “Commissioner Troxler did receive a phone call and had a conversation with one of the legislators last week regarding conditions in the area and whether a burn ban was being considered, which it was at the time.”

Troxler pointed out that imposing a burn ban “is not made lightly because it also requires allocating resources to investigate any reports of smoke to enforce the ban, which shifts resources away from firefighting efforts.” The mountain region is shorthanded as it is, operating with 25 to 30 vacancies at any given time. “Commissioner Troxler has been advocating for two years for funding to address the issue of not being able to hire people in the Forest Service,” the department’s statement said. It added, “We are grateful for the support of the local community resources who we have been working hand-in-hand with.”

County thanks Troxler, Forest Service

Rep. Jennifer Balkcom said Monday she also received Griffin’s email and talked with him and other officials about the dry-weather concerns. She said she was “in the process” of trying to help get a burning ban from the state “when all this happened.”

  Balkcom added that her discussions with leaders about the limits of the county-issued burning bans has led her to consider what the Legislature could do.

  “I think the county needs more authority. I just don’t know where that line is,” she said. “We need to look at it.”

  Rep. Jake Johnson, who represents parts of Henderson, McDowell, Polk and Rutherford counties, said Monday he was traveling but had been in contact with Moffitt, Balkcom and Henderson County Board of Commissioners Chair Rebecca McCall about the Poplar Drive fire.

  When fire in broke out on Nov. 3 no burning ban was in place by the county or the state. The county did not issue its own ban without a wider state ban because it would have put firefighters in the difficult position of responding to complaints about outdoor burning when they would have had the authority only to stop burning within 100 feet of a structure, Mitchell said.

  “They would have been running back and forth throughout the county,” he said.

Henderson County did eventually issue a burn ban on its own at 9 p.m. on Saturday, which was superseded by the state’s ban the next day.

Under North Carolina law, the ban prohibits all open burning in the affected counties, regardless of whether a permit was previously issued. The issuance of any new permits has also been suspended until the ban is lifted. Anyone violating the burn ban faces a $100 fine plus $183 court costs. Any person responsible for setting a fire may be liable for any expenses related to extinguishing the fire.

On Wednesday, Mitchell issued a statement praising the firefighting efforts of the Forest Service and the firefighters on the ground.

“The support we have had from the State of North Carolina, our elected officials at the local, state and federal level has been incredible," he said. "Henderson County has no greater partner in Raleigh than Commissioner Troxler. At this time, all our efforts, thoughts and prayers continue to be with the brave men and women on the front lines battling this fire.”