As NC wildfires rage, many can be blamed on one thing: people. ‘We’re our own worst enemy,’ official says.
by Jack Igelman, Carolina Public Press March 14, 2025
Dozens of wildfires are burning across the state following a stretch of unseasonably warm weather, high winds and low humidity.
And just like in years past, the majority of blazes can be traced to be one source: people.
Between Feb. 24 and March 3, the North Carolina Forest Service responded to a staggering 806 wildfires — all caused by humans — that burned more than 3,300 acres across the state.
The latest occurred on Monday. Firefighters responded to a 123-acre wildfire along Millis Road, just west of Nine Mile Road at the Croatan National Forest in Carteret County.
While winds contributed to the fire’s initial growth, rain helped stop its progression. Firefighters worked on removing burning snags and logs around the perimeter. Crews will continue suppression efforts, checking for heat and reinforcing firelines.
Although what caused the fire hasn’t yet been determined, unattended campfires and discarded cigarettes are typically the main causes of many blazes this time of year.
Human-caused forest fires present his state agency and other land managers with a crucial challenge: protecting the growing number of people living in areas where forest and development meet.
“The population is growing to the point where people are beginning to inhabit areas that were previously undeveloped wild forestland,” Jackson explained.
Such areas where the built environment intermingles with nature has been referred to as the “wildland-urban interface.” And North Carolina has more wildland-urban interface acres than any other U.S. state, presenting complex challenges for fire management and public safety.
Meanwhile, local, state and federal agencies work to contain ongoing blazes. Staffing shortages, however, are straining wildland firefighting resources.
A recent weekend saw a surge of wildfires. But the bump in activity, however, wasn’t unexpected, according to Jackson.
David Nelson, the U.S. Forest Service’s fire management officer for the Croatan National Forest, oversees a controlled burn in February 2024. The agency manages more than one million acres of public forest in North Carolina. U.S. Forest Service / Provided
“It was a pretty weekend to be outside,” he said, “so we saw more wildfire starts from campfires and debris burns.”
The spring fire season usually lasts until May. During that time, the potential for blazes will be high. For the next several weeks, low humidity will transform vegetation and woody debris into kindling that’s easily ignited by a stray ember from a routine leaf burn on a windy afternoon.
What worries wildfire responders most are escaped residential brushfires that come from burning leaves or piles of yard debris.
The largest wildfire — so far — was caused by a wind-fallen power line on March 2 in Polk County. The blaze spread to 619 acres and was 91% contained three days later. It’s since been extinguished.
Jackson said that firefighters conducted a controlled, low-intensity fire on the perimeter of the blaze to limit its spread. The strategic fire allowed firefighters “to widen and strengthen containment lines,” he said. “When the fire reaches that area there’s nothing more to burn because it’s already cold and black.”
But that’s just one fire down. There are several more to contend with.
Wildfires take their toll
In the first half of the 20th century, the U.S. Forest Service and other forest managers feared outbreaks of destructive wildfires and snuffed out flames as quickly as possible. But researchers in the 1960s and 1970s demonstrated the benefits of letting wildfires burn — or using “prescribed fire,” which helped reverse decades of fire-suppression policies.
Although fires have meaningful ecological benefits to some forested landscapes, unplanned fires pose a potential danger to wildland firefighters and people who live on the edges of forests. Wildfire response is also expensive, requiring specialized personnel, incident command teams and heavy equipment, such as bulldozers and aircraft.
Of late, the U.S. Forest Service battled several blazes within each of its four national forests including the 20-acre McClure Road Fire in Cherokee County’s Nantahala National Forest; the 194-acre Hicks Cemetery Fire in Haywood County’s Pisgah National Forest; and Montgomery County’s 505-acre Fall Dam Fire in the Uwharrie National Forest.
The current fire in the Croatan National Forest is on the heels of a 114-acre blaze that occurred recently across the same area in coastal Craven County — a region that’s no stranger to wildfires.
In April 2023, the 35,000-acre Great Lakes Fire burned large swaths of highly-flammable pocosin swampland. That fire was, in part, contained by a fortunate shift in winds and the use of controlled fire to reduce fuel in between the highly flammable pocosins and clusters of homes along edges of the National Forest boundary.
In the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forest in Western North Carolina, rangers are particularly concerned about woody debris due to Hurricane Helene. Fighting wildfires in remote areas of the National Forest is complicated by steep terrain that makes it difficult to reach and contain flames.
To that end, the U.S. Forest Service and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy have partnered to remove fallen trees that may have commercial value in the Pisgah National Forest near the Appalachian Trail in McDowell, Burke, Yancey and Mitchell counties.
Although fires have meaningful ecological benefits, unplanned blazes, like this one on Collett Ridge in November 2023, pose a potential danger to firefighters and people who live on the edges of forests. U.S. Forest Service / Provided
However, recent cuts to the Forest Service’s workforce may hamper the agency’s ability to properly do its job. In February, the Trump administration cut 3,400 U.S. Forest Service positions, representing 10% of the agency’s workforce.
In a statement, the U.S. Department of Agriculture told CPP that wildland firefighting positions are considered public safety jobs.
“Protecting the people and communities we serve, as well as the infrastructure, businesses and resources they depend on to grow and thrive, remains a top priority for the USDA and the Forest Service,” the agency said.
Feeling the burn
The U.S. Forest Service manages more than one million acres of public forest in North Carolina, but the majority of wildfires begin on private land. According to Jackson, 83% of the state’s forestland is privately owned.
“Private landowners are a huge stakeholder,” he said.
In addition to dry conditions and large fuel loads, staffing issues facing the North Carolina Forest Service are complicating fire prevention support and wildfire response.
“We continue to struggle with vacancies due to recruitment and retention issues,” Jackson admitted. “We’re doing the best we can to provide adequate firefighting coverage in areas that are prone to wildfire or more at risk.”
Jackson said the approach isn’t sustainable in the long term, especially during above-average fire seasons. The agency is seeking more funding for higher salaries to attract and retain firefighters.
In addition to the agency’s staffing issues, a recent incident in Eastern North Carolina emphasized a new problem facing firefighters: drones. A state-owned airtanker approaching a wildfire in Craven County was diverted in early March to avoid a collision with a drone hovering above the wildfire.
“We want folks to understand to never fly a drone near or around the wildfire,” Jackson said. “First and foremost it’s illegal, but it significantly hinders our ability to do our job.”
SUMMARY: The FDA has issued a warning about counterfeit Ozempic being found in the U.S. drug supply. Both the FDA and Ozempic’s manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, are urging patients and pharmacies to verify the legitimacy of their prescriptions. Counterfeit vials pose potential health risks, with several hundred units distributed outside the official supply chain. The fakes can be identified by a specific combination of a real lot number (P0362) and an illegitimate serial number starting with “51746517.” The FDA and FBI have both warned about counterfeit weight loss drugs, urging individuals to validate their Ozempic supplies.
The FDA and the manufacturer of Ozempic, Novo Nordisk are urging patients, doctors and pharmacies to check their Ozempic prescriptions.
www.thecentersquare.com – By David Beasley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-15 15:45:00
(The Center Square) – The North Carolina Senate’s version of a state budget for the next two years breezed through three committees Tuesday with few changes or opposition.
The proposed budget, Senate Bill 257, includes income tax cuts, and a doubling of taxes for sports betting companies who operate in North Carolina from 18% to 36%.
The Senate spending proposal, unlike Gov. Josh Stein’s proposed budget, fully funds the state’s retirement plan. It also increases funding for the state health care plan by $318 million over the next two years.
It would raise teacher pay and funding for colleges and universities.
“This budget continues the success North Carolina has seen over the last decade and half,” Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, one of the bill’s sponsors, told members of the Appropriations/Base Budget Committee.
The first year of the two-year proposed budget is $32.6 billion, the second year $33.3 billion, Hise said. It’s an increase of $1.3 billion, or 4% in the first year, and $733 million in the second year.
He described it as “modest growth” that still allows the state to replenish its “rainy day” reserve fund, which at the end of two years will be back at $4.75 billion. It will bring state funding for a new children’s hospital in Charlotte to $855 million.
It adds another $700 million for Hurricane Helene recovery, adding to the $1.4 billion already appropriated.
“It is also our understanding that Gov. Stein is working on another request for recovery needs,” Hise said. “But as yet, we are not at that place.”
Some of the state funds spent on hurricane relief will likely be reimbursed by the federal government, Hise added.
“We are hopeful the federal government will provide increased and expedited reimbursements,” Hise said. “But we must prepare to fend for ourselves.”
Under the proposed budget, most state employees would receive 1.25% raise the first year and a $3,000 bonus over the entire two-year period covered by the budget, said Sen. Michael Lee, R-New Hanover.
Correctional officers would receive a 5.25% raise with other state law enforcement officers also getting extra pay raises. Local law enforcement officers would receive $3,000 bonuses over the two-year period. Nurses employed by the state would also received higher 3.25% raises over the two years.
Teachers would receive a 3.3% raise over the two years plus a $3,000 bonus. With those raises, the average teacher pay in North Carolina will be $62,407, Lee said.
The proposed budget passed the Appropriations/Base Budget Committee, Finance Committee and Pensions, Finance and Aging Committee with only minor changes on Tuesday.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-14 11:31:00
(The Center Square) – Senators in North Carolina are scheduled to work a budget proposal through three committees Tuesday.
The 2025 Appropriations Act, known also as Senate Bill 257, is to be heard first in the Appropriations/Base Budget Committee. Next is a stop in the Finance Committee, followed 15 minutes later by the Pensions and Retirement and Aging Committee. Senate Bills 258 and 263 carry the same title.
President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, noted in his opening address in January the General Assembly has “moved away from the unsteady rollercoaster of boom-and-bust budgets toward consistent, conservative, fiscally sound budgets.”
The legislation is only beginning, according to the state legislative website. Filed March 11, it was at two pages at midday Monday.
Typically, the governor is first to offer a budget proposal, both chambers follow, and then the negotiations ensue. July 1 is the start of the fiscal year, though it was late September in 2024 when the midterm adjustment was finalized.
Because of the July 14, 2016, signing of a law by Republican former Gov. Pat McCrory, the state government avoided shutdown during a three-year budget impasse that began after Cooper’s veto in 2019. Instead, the law allowed the state to operate on the previous spending plan. It remains in effect today.
North Carolina has a population estimated at 11 million, ninth largest in America and up 37.5% from 8 million just a quarter of a century ago.
Spending on education was the largest share of the last state budget at $17.9 billion for 2024-25, and $17.3 billion for 2023-24 of the $60.7 billion two-year plan.
Cooper in eight years only signed one two-year budget (2021-22), one midterm adjustment (2022) and allowed a two-year budget to become law without his signature (2023-24), the latter tied to his long-sought request for Medicaid expansion.
Cooper vetoed two-year budgets for 2017-18 and 2019-20, and midterm adjustments in 2018 and 2024. Veto overrides enacted two-year budget legislation for 2017-18 and midterm adjustments in 2018 and 2024.
