(Becky Long • Clay County Progress) A helicopter from the N.C. Forest Service in Franklin makes a run to retrieve water from a pond near the airport on Tusquittee Road Monday evening. The bucket can hold about 700 gallons of water and had to make multiple round trips.
Escaped debris from a burning fire pit appears to have sparked a Monday afternoon blaze that eventually spread across 15 to 20 acres in a wooded, remote area of Clay County. Firefighters from across Clay, Towns and Union counties responded to the call around 1 p.m. They were joined by N.C. and U.S. Forest Service personnel who brought in extra resources including two bulldozers and a helicopter from the Franklin office.
Goals were to prevent the fire from reaching a nearby home about 1o feet from the blazes and to keep it from spreading. The site was near Nelson Ridge. “Because of the structure we were concerned about preventing damage,” said Clay County’s Forest Ranger Bob Ray. A storage structure on the property sustained some damages, but the home was spared.
Ironically, the fire originated on Flaming Ridge Drive and jumped to Smoking Ridge before it was confined, according to Ray. Once containment lines and fire breaks were dug around the perimeter, workers burned whatever was close to the line in a “controlled manner” to keep the fire from jumping the lines, Ray said. The fire was contained around 7 p.m. and the final burnout around 10 p.m. when fire personnel left the scene. They returned to the site at the top of Flaming Ridge Drive on Tuesday to ensure their efforts were successful.
Monday’s conditions were ideal for fire because of high temperatures, low humidity and wind gusts between 10-15 miles per hour. However, Clay County is not under a burn ban nor are we experiencing a drought, Ray said. Conditions were much different five years ago.
This year marks the anniversary of the Boteler fire that started in late October 2016 and raged on for nearly two months, engulfing 9,043 acres of forest land near Chunky Gal, about 6 miles east of Hayesville. It was believed to have been ignited by a lightning strike and the region had experienced drought conditions for several months.
The fire areas included East and West Vineyard Road, Bob Penland Road, Mill Creek, Old Highway 64 East, Brooks Cove and Muskrat Creek. Some residents were ask to evacuate their homes. Teams of hundreds of firefighters and support staff were sent in from across the United States. During that time, 17 fires were burning throughout western North Carolina. In Clay County, the former health department building served as command headquarters.
After multiple weeks, the fires calmed and the air began to clear of smoke. Residents were grateful to visiting team members, local firefighters and other emergency personnel for their tireless efforts. Not a single Clay County home was lost in the Boteler fire.