Wildfire damages

25 acres on Stone Mountain
By Melanie Davis
Melanie@mountaintimes.com

Fire crews were busy Thursday night, working to contain a wildfire than claimed 25 acres in the Vilas area.

The fire started from a resident burning household trash behind their home on Reese Road. The fire escaped and spread quickly up the steep slope to the top of Stone Mountain.

Beaver Dam Volunteer Fire Department was the first on the scene. Assistance was immediately called in from Cove Creek Volunteer Fire Department and Zionville Volunteer Fire Department. Crews from Shawneehaw Volunteer Fire Department, Boone Fire Department, Meat Camp Volunteer Fire Department and Todd Volunteer Fire Department also responded.

A crew from the Fall Creek department in Avery County also responded, but was released as the fire was becoming contained.

Beaver Dam chief Floyd Hicks estimated that more than 50 firefighters were at the site to battle the blaze.

“The steep, rocky terrain was a challenge, but we have well-trained firefighters in the county who work very well together. Everything went as well as possible for an operation of this size,” Hicks said.

The N.C. Forest Service sent a helicopter and team from Asheville to help contain the blaze. The helicopter released the crew as close as possible to the fire to work on creating control lines, before using a bucket to drop water from above.

There were structures damaged in the fire; however, four were threatened by the blaze. Crews worked around two to prevent damage, and the fire was contained before two others needed to be protected.

Firefighters remained at the fire site overnight. Watauga Rescue Squad also maintained personnel overnight at the site in case of injury. There were no injuries reported.

N.C. Forest Service ranger Rudy Johnson said, “We were blessed to have no injuries with the firefighters using chain saws throughout the night while on those steep slopes. Cutting the dead snags out really presents a dangerous situation for the firefighters.”

The firefighters were released Friday morning, a couple hours after daybreak. Edwin Greene with the N.C. Forest Service remained at the site with two forest service crews throughout Friday. The crew was working on “mop-up” operations, extinguishing any remaining smoldering stumps and logs.

Gladys Rominger, 68, of 991 Reese Road, was charged with starting the fire.