Polk County wildfires scorch 5,000 acres with little containment, residents voice concerns

    POLK COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) -- Nearly 5,000 acres are burning in Polk County as crews battle three separate wildfires.

The latest acreage and containment from the North Carolina Forest Service is as follows:

Black Cove

2,706 acres 0% contained on state-owned and private land in the Green River Gorge Burning timber on steep terrain

Deep Woods

2,545 acres 0% contained on state-owned and private land in the Green River Gorge and in the Holbert Cove community Burning timber on steep terrain

Fish Hook

199 acres 50% contained on private land near Lake Adger Forward progress of the fire has been stopped, containment is expected to increase Multiple structures have been destroyed.

On the afternoon of March 23, for the first time since the three fires ignited, Polk County residents were able to hear from fire officials and ask questions inside and in the hallway of a packed government building for an hour.

"We've already actually evacuated everything that we felt was important," said Kim Callaway. "Now we're just staying at the house and trying to do what we can to get our house prepared if the firemen need to show up and hold the line."

Callaway lives off Green River Cove Road and is waiting for whatever comes next. Others were concerned about how they were going to find out the latest information.

"We live in a rural area, and so not everyone has internet here or even has great cell service," Melissa Holland said. "It's very spotty."

Holland lives in Mill Spring and said many are relying on word of mouth; she's hoping for a more consistent line of county communication.

"We don't want to push out misinformation," Polk County Emergency Management Director Bobby Arledge said.

Arledge said his team is working to keep people informed about the fires that he describes as "historic" in his county.

"It may not be acreages and stuff like that, but it may be some different items that we're working on so the public will have an idea about what's going on," he said.

Residents learned at the meeting that Polk County is transitioning away from Nixel emergency text alerts to Everbridge.

Sunday evening, flames illuminate the night sky as downed trees from Helene continue to challenge fire crews.

"There are some roads and trails, but a lot of those roads have been affected by Helene, so you can only go so far, and the next thing you know, it's a ravine or a washout, and you can't [go] any further so that has hampered construction on those areas," North Carolina Forest Service Public Information Officer Jeremy Waldrop said.

Multiple structures and outbuildings are destroyed according to Polk County Emergency Management as crews continue to put in fire lines with dozers, fly in water drops and execute burnouts.

"We just want to make sure that the wind don't throw embers over the lines and cause a separate fire that's why we don't like to call it contained until we're 100% confident nothing's going to blow over the line and start another fire," Arledge said.