A wildfire spreading in the Needmore area started Thursday afternoon and kept burning over the weekend. Local firefighters and the North Carolina Forest Service fought the fire, staging at the intersection between Needmore Road and Wiggins Creek Road in Swain County.
The fire was detected at 4:36 p.m. April 2. As of Tuesday, April 7, the U.S. Forest Service reported the wildfire at 90% containment.
While originally reported at 75 acres, Allyson Pokrzywinski, a public information officer for the USFS, said the current 58 acres is a more accurate measurement of the wildfire’s size. This accuracy was made possible as the fire became safer and firefighters on the ground were able to more accurately assess the area.
Aircraft have been regularly involved in the fire since Thursday, with a pair of scooper planes and helicopters dumping water on the fire and returning to Fontana Lake to refill every few minutes while active. Pokrzywinski said the aircraft were at the ready when not actively engaging the fire.
“It’s pretty cool how aircraft and firefighters on the ground work together,” she said. “The firefighters will say ‘Hey, we’ve got some areas over here of heat that we need to cool down’ and a lot of times a water source is far away. So a helicopter could bring a bucket and they call that bucket work and, guided by the firefighters on the ground, a helicopter will bring in that water, drop it right where the firefighters are asking for it and then the firefighters will conduct their suppression activities after that water’s dropped.”
Meanwhile, other planes surveilled the area to give guidance and prevent intrusion into the airspace by the public via drones or other aircraft, Pokrzywinski said. She said the Forest Service requests that members of the public avoid the area when fires are active, refraining from drone, hunting or other outdoor activities.
Fighting the fire was a partnership between the U.S. Forest Service and N.C. Forest Service and West Swain, Bryson City and Qualla fire departments as well as Swain County Emergency Management and North Carolina Emergency Management.
No injuries or property damage have been reported as a result of the fire.