NC Forest Service Warns of Increased Wildfire Activity

WNC-- November 4, 2024: .The N.C. Forest Service posted that road damage, unstable ground, and fallen trees make it hard for

 first responders to reach hotspots: 

" Our Helene NC damage estimate indicated that more than 27% of forestland in the affected counties received some level of damage. Due to the timber types prevalent in this area of the state, a substantial proportion of this damage appears to be hardwood sawtimber. As indicated in our general observations below, softwood timber was not damaged in the same proportion as the hardwood types.

The heaviest damage was confined to a six-county area with Buncombe and McDowell counties being at the center of this area. North Carolina counties affected are Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Haywood, Henderson, Lincoln, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga and Yancey. The most heavily impacted counties are Avery, Buncombe, McDowell, Mitchell, Henderson and Yancey. This was based on percentage of points within the county showing damage.

During the assessment, aerial surveyors made general observations including:

Windward (southerly slopes) received a larger share of the damage.
Apparent microburst or downburst areas were evident throughout the area.
Areas of heavy damage were interspersed throughout areas with much lighter damage.
Most damage was blowdown with top/stem breakage being lighter.
Single, scattered tree damage is difficult to quantify from the air.

While we have seen some other damaging wind events affect our timber resource in recent decades, this may be the most damaging wind event we have seen in North Carolina since Hurricane Fran in 1996 (Eastern North Carolina) and Hurricane Hugo in 1989 (Western North Carolina). Ground observations by personnel within the damaged areas and pictures coming out of these areas reinforce the observations made."

WNCTimes