(The Center Square) – March was a very bad month for wildfires in North Carolina, a forestry official told state leaders Tuesday.
A normal March would have 891 wildfires in the state. Last month, there were 1,823 fires, a 104% increase. Twelve homes and other structures have been destroyed in the fires, fueled by winds and leftover debris from Hurricane Helene.
“That’s unusual,” state Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said of the homes that burned.
He cited the need for more state funds to replace old firefighting equipment and hire more firefighters.
Twenty-one states and the federal government have sent firefighters to help North Carolina, the commissioner said.
“We’ve had the big tankers flying, everything you could imagine,” said Troxler. “But the probability is it’s going to happen again.”
“Preparation is the key in being able to handle these fires,” Troxler said at the monthly Council of State meeting. “We’ve got to be able to do that.”
The North Carolina Forest Service has 100 open positions for firefighters, said the commissioner.
The state needs to replace equipment such as helicopters and bulldozers, he said.
“We’ve got to get that done between now and the fall fire season,” Troxler said.
The agriculture commissioner has asked the Legislature for funds to rebuild the state Forest Service so it can “jump on these fires and immediately attack them.”
The Forest Service does not currently have that capability, he said.
Gov. Josh Stein told Troxler that funds for forest service upgrades were part included in his budget proposal to the Legislature.
“I will be in discussions with the General Assembly,” Stein told Troxler. “Obviously we will seek your input and incorporate it in anything we request.”
Assistant Forestry Service Commissioner Greg Hicks told the state leadership that the spring fire season in North Carolina is from March 1 to May 1.
“It’s been a busy March and we still have another month of it to go,” Hicks said. Many of the fires in March were in the western part of the state, he said.
“We had three fires in Polk County,” Hicks said. “Another large fire we have on the landscape is in Swain County.”
