News

N.C. Forest Service announces meeting Tuesday on Big Hungry wildfire

By Lightning Reports, Published: March 25, 2025

The N.C. Forest Service announced will  host a community meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Biltmore Church on Upward Road to provide information and answer questions about the Polk County wildfires that have threatened the Big Hungry community in eastern Henderson County, the agency said.

Polk County issued several evacuation orders over the weekend and many remain in place. The N.C. Forest Service remains in the county where a unified command is in place with personnel from the N.C. Forest Service, Polk County and Henderson County. Currently 263 firefighters are battling the wildfire from South Carolina, Michigan, Montana and Wyoming, Tennessee, Oregon, South Dakota and California.

The N.C. Emergency Management agency:
• Has emergency managers on scene filling various incident management team roles in Polk County and remaining in contact with counties statewide.
• Has activated the North Carolina Helo-Aquatic Rescue Team, which is staged nearby with a Blackhawk from the North Carolina National Guard and rescue technicians specially trained firefighters and rescue technicians to make helicopter rescues if firefighters become trapped or injured.
• Has deployed tactical dispatchers, which are disaster trained emergency telecommunications personnel to the Polk County fires. These individuals deployed from Transylvania County 911, NCEM, Rockingham County 911 and Hamlet Rescue.
• Has deployed radio caches and communications equipment and supplies to Polk County.

A statewide burn ban remains in place. Though most of the state saw rain Monday, the weather conditions following the rainfall will once again cause ground cover to dry out quickly with fire danger returning, as the gusty winds and low relative humidity causes the moisture to evaporate, the forest service said.