CONNELLY SPRINGS, NC (November 12, 2016)…The Chestnut Knob Fire was discovered on South Mountains State Park on Sunday, November 6, 2016. The cause of this fire is undetermined and currently under investigation.
The North Carolina Forest Service, North Carolina State Parks, and the Burke County Fire Marshal’s Office and Emergency Management assembled crews to work on containing the fire. Due to extremely dry conditions and rugged terrain, the fire has grown significantly and is currently estimated to be 1,961 acres.
Fire officials determined that a management team was needed to organize and support local resources fighting the fire. There are currently numerous large wildfires throughout the mountains of western North Carolina, which has led to a shortage of local and state resources. The North Carolina Forest Service assembled a small team to manage the fire until a full team could be ordered. An Incident Management Team was ordered from the Florida Forest Service to manage this incident and will arrive on Saturday, November 12. This team will work with the North Carolina team on Saturday and assume command of the fire on Sunday, November 13.
At this time there are no mandatory evacuations ordered for any neighborhoods in proximity to the fire. For more information on the fire or any potential evacuations please contact the Burke County Government website at http://www.burkenc.org/. Citizens may also utilize the following:
South Mountains State Park website which can be found at:
http://www.ncparks.gov/south-mountains-state-park
Facebook page for North Carolina State Parks
https://www.facebook.com/NorthCarolinaStateParks?fref=ts
Twitter — NC State Parks
https://twitter.com/NCparks