A wildfire driven by gusting winds near the Bladen County and Columbus County border burned more than 700 acres of woodlands over a two-day period, according to the N.C. Forest Service.
As of 4:46 p.m. Thursday, April 9, the 762-acre fire was 60% contained, the Forest Service said. Officials responded to the fire about 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 8 in the Rosindale Road area off N.C. 211 about four miles from Council and 9 miles from Clarkton.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. Bladen County Fire Marshal Kenneth Clark said no structures nor homes were damaged or destroyed by the fire and no people were injured.
“It was 100% in the woods,” Clark said. “It didn’t damage anything except for the woods. It’s great that we didn’t have any structures or anything lost.
“We still have some smoke and hotspots in the woods, but nothing that is going to get outside of the burned area and cause problems.”
There likely will be residual smoke from the fire for several days or until sufficient rain, Clark said.
Forest Service crews, assisted by several local fire departments, spent Wednesday night and Thursday morning setting up a perimeter around the fire, using bulldozers to set the lines. Airplanes initially were used Wednesday to help contain the fire, but heavy smoke eventually grounded the planes.
By Thursday afternoon, the heavy smoke that was visible for miles had dissipated. Crews remained on scene to contain hotspots.
The Rosindale Road wildfire appears to be the largest in North Carolina this year. A wildfire in Wilkes County had burned over 600 acres as of March 31 and the Jumping Branch Fire in McDowell County burned over 400 acres.
According to Forest Service records, there have been 3,393 wildfires in the state that have burned 8,846 acres, as of April 9.
Bladen County remains under a burn ban as drought conditions have worsened across North Carolina.
The Bladen County Fire Marshal’s Office issued the ban March 28 that includes no open burning, no burn piles, no debris burning and no yard waste fires within 100 feet of an occupied dwelling.
The local ban was issued in conjunction with a statewide ban of all open burning and the cancellation of all burning permits until future notice.
Following enactment of the state ban on open burning, the N.C. Forest Service canceled nearly 18,000 digital burn permits that were issued online during the 30-day period before the ban became effective. That total does not include the burning permits that were issued in person by either the N.C. Forest Service or local burn permitting agents.
Under state law, anyone violating the burn ban faces a $100 fine plus $183 court costs. Any person responsible for setting a fire may be liable for any expenses related to extinguishing the fire.
Bladen County is among the 79 listed in the Severe Drought category by the N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council as of March 31.
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