On Wednesday, a wildfire broke out in McDowell County in Western North Carolina after a tree fell onto a powerline.
After hours of firefighting efforts from Wednesday through Thursday morning, the fire, which had grown to 250 acres, was successfully contained, according to the McDowell County Office of Emergency Management.
This week’s wildfire comes amid growing concerns about wildfire risk in Western North Carolina, an issue that experts warn will intensify as climate change drives more extreme and unpredictable weather patterns. Meanwhile, the state’s wildfire response faces additional challenges, with more than 100 North Carolina Forest Service positions unfilled due to low salaries.
In recent years, North Carolina has experienced both intense hurricane seasons and unusually dry fall months. In late September, Hurricane Helene brought heavy rainfall and flooding, only to be followed by one of the driest Octobers on record. By mid-December, multiple large wildfires had already ignited in western North Carolina.
According to Corey Davis, an assistant state climatologist at the North Carolina State Climate Office, these shifting patterns mean that wet periods are becoming even wetter, dry spells are intensifying with higher temperatures, and droughts are developing more quickly. The transitions between these extremes are also becoming more sudden and severe due to climate, he explained.
“One factor that could make this change in fire frequency even more noticeable in North Carolina is that we already have more acres of land in the Wildland-Urban Interface than any other state in the country,” Davis said. “With our population continuing to increase, even more houses and developments will spring up in these areas next to or even in areas that historically saw some instance of wildfires.”
Noting we are already seeing changes in wildfire patterns, Davis pointed to the Fourth National Climate Assessment by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. The congressionally mandated report projects that by 2060, the area burned by lightning-induced wildfires in the Southeast will increase by at least 30% on average.
“Wildfire burned at least 3.7 million acres nationwide in 14 of the 17 years from 2000 to 2016 — an area larger than the entire state of Connecticut — including a record 10.2 million acres in 2015 (an area greater than Maryland and Delaware combined),” the report reads.
“In a warmer climate, increased fire frequency will damage local economies and degrade air quality in the Southeast.”
North Carolina and this region have faced several significant wildfires over the past few years. In November 2021, the Sauratown Mountain Fire in Stokes County burned over 40 acres and took 16 days to fully contain. Just days later, the Grindstone Fire — the largest wildfire of North Carolina’s 2021 fall wildfire season — ignited at Pilot Mountain State Park in Surry County, burning 1,050 acres.
In December 2024, multiple large wildfires broke out in western North Carolina, including a 664-acre fire at Crowders Mountain State Park and a 518-acre fire near Lake Tahoma.
The North Carolina Forest Action Plan from 2020 reports that more than 3.4 million acres in the state face moderate to extreme wildfire risk, with an annual average of 5,500 fires burning approximately 38,200 acres over the past decade.
As North Carolina’s population grows, more buildings are being constructed in areas that were once densely forested. A 2005 University of Wisconsin study identified over 5.5 million acres in the state’s wildland-urban interface (WUI)—the transitional zone where forests and undeveloped land meet human development. These areas face a heightened wildfire risk, as fires can rapidly spread between vegetation and structures, increasing the threat to lives and property.
“Many new homes are constructed without any community wildfire planning,” the N.C. Forest Action Plan reads. “This has created neighborhoods with limited accessibility plus flammable building construction and flammable landscaping with no defensible space incorporated.”
Meanwhile, North Carolina faces a significant personnel shortage. According to N.C. Forest Service Public Information Officer Philip Jackson, the agency has around 100 unfilled positions statewide, with approximately 30 to 35 vacancies in each region. Many of these open roles are in initial attack positions—the first responders on the ground when wildfires ignite.
“N.C. Forest Service vacancies are large in part due to inadequate salaries,” Jackson said, noting that starting salaries for initial attack positions are well below $40,000. “Until those salaries increase, we’ll likely see our vacancies continue to increase,” he continued
The N.C. Forest Service leads wildfire response on state and private lands, coordinating with local, state, and federal agencies based on jurisdiction and fire conditions. Local fire departments assist when homes and structures are at risk, while emergency management and law enforcement handle evacuations if needed.
Robert Scheller, associate dean for research at North Carolina State University’s College of Natural Resources, said that a recent study by his team found that cycles of dry and wet periods could lead to “up to five times more wildfires” in Western North Carolina.
While there are many possible climate futures, and that it could take more than 40 years to reach that level, he explained, it is very “plausible” for the state to experience five times as many wildfires, largely due to increased aridity that’s becoming more acute and longer.
For wildfires, that dryness is “the fuels on the ground,” Scheller said.
“We’re about 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial carbon in the atmosphere right now, and it’s not a neat linear thing. … A little bit of more carbon at this point leads to a lot more fire,” he added. “It’s tough to get our emissions under control, but people need to realize that even if we’re not going to meet the magic Paris Agreement goal of 1.5 degrees, that doesn’t mean we give up, because every 10th of a degree is making fires worse.”
Photo by form PxHere
© 2025 the News & Record (Greensboro, N.C.). Visit www.news-record.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
