News

Brush fire off Howard Gap Road mostly contained after crews work overnight

Firefighters worked Friday evening to contain a brush fire burning off Howard Gap Road and U.S. 64 East near Ebenezer Baptist Church.

By Amy McCraw, Published: April 18, 2026

Firefighters working overnight got a brush fire off Howard Gap Road 80 percent contained by noon Saturday, Henderson County Fire Marshal Glen Gillette said.

Henderson County communications chief Mike Morgan issued a video update from Gillette, who reported the progress crews made knocking down the fire. Howard Gap Road between U.S. 64 and Nix road remained closed Saturday.

Firefighters began battling the brush fire after receiving a report at about 6 p.m. Friday of an illegal burn in the area. When firefighters responded to the call about the fire on Friday, they encountered a woods fire in an area with a significant amount of trees downed by Hurricane Helene, known as blow-down. The blow-down increases the difficulty and risks for firefighters as they control the fire,  fire marshal said. No homes or structures were damaged.

"As you can see, we've got a lot of blow-down and storm debris from from Hurricane Helene," Gillette said in the video update, sweeping his arm toward stacks of trees laid down in the woods. "That's caused a significant hindrance of containing and controlling this fire and also resulted in some extreme fire behavior we've had. We were out here all night, last night last night patrolling, keeping an eye on things, making sure that things are safe, keeping our citizens protected."

Gillette expected crews to be on the scene Saturday and Sunday until the fire was completely extinguished and hot spots addressed. He reminded residents that a statewide burn ban is still in effect amid a statewide drought.

Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles at around 7:30 p.m. Friday as fire crews from Dana and Mountain Home fire departments and the N.C. Forest Service worked to contain the blaze. Duke Energy crews also arrived to standby because a substation is located near where the fire was burning off Howard Gap Road and U.S. 64 East near Ebenezer Baptist Church.
A firefighter working to supply trucks with water near the blaze on Friday said the fire was called in to emergency crews as an illegal burn. But firefighters found a brush fire by the time they arrived. He described the blaze at the time as a medium-sized brush fire and said crews were creating a perimeter to contain its spread.
Several fire departments arrived later on Friday to assist in the effort to contain the blaze.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The N.C. Forest Service issued the ban on all open burning on March 28 and canceled all burning permits statewide until further notice.
Under North Carolina law, the ban prohibits all open burning statewide, 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. The burn ban does not apply to fires started within 100 feet of an occupied dwelling. The local fire marshal has authority to issue a burn ban within those 100 feet.