POLK COUNTY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — North Carolina wildfires have scorched hundreds of acres of forest in western North Carolina.
The fires prompted voluntary evacuations in Polk County as crews continue to try to contain them.
“Look at the blue sky. Could you ask for more? The flowers against the blue sky,” Tryon resident Trisha Attaway said. “Here comes the helicopter looking at the forest fire.”
An almost perfect spring-like day in Polk County, contrasted by a plume of white smoke and the constant echoes of helicopters flying above the mountain near Attaway’s home.
“I’ve seen the helicopters all morning,” she said. “They have been all over the place.”
Since Saturday, local firefighters and the N.C. Forest Service has been working to contain a wildfire that was sparked by a downed power line. Since Saturday, the fire has spread nearly 600 acres.
“It was difficult to maintain the fire perimeter due to numerous factors — one being the steep terrain, the windy gusty conditions and also some of the debris that was taken down by Helene that we are having to deal with as well,” N.C. Forest Service Forestry Technician Jeremy Waldrop said.
On one side of Highway 176 in Tryon, homeowners voluntarily evacuated. On the other side of the road, the entire mountainside was charred black.
“Friends told me that my house was probably gone. It’s not going to be your house anymore,” Attaway said.
Attaway returned home Monday morning to find her house, which had made it through Hurricane Helene, still standing. The fire line was just feet away from her property.
“Leave me be and let me be bored, but no, all of these humongous adventures coming up, but thanks be to God I am alive, and everything is well, and I haven’t suffered really, and I am just really grateful,” she said.
As of 5:00 pm ET Monday, the North Carolina Forest Service says 63 percent of the wildfire has been contained.
A spokesperson with the agency says they do not believe any homes were damaged or destroyed and all evacuations have been lifted.
