ROCKY POINT, N.C. (WECT) - A more than 600-acre wildfire in Pender County on N.C. 210 has been fully contained.
WECT was previously told by the Pender County Fire Marshal’s Office that the cause of the fire was a controlled burn. However, officials stated later on April 21 that the cause is still under investigation by the North Carolina Forest Service.
The fire is now fully contained, but not before neighbors were forced to evacuate their homes on Saturday.
Shawana Rivas and her family moved into their house in Pender County a few months ago, but this fire over the weekend nearly took it all away.
“It was devastating to us, all our things are here, their childhood memories, I had none of these things. We had neighbors that lived down here that were home and were like ‘did you get clothes?’ and I was like we had nothing,” said Rivas.
She was told to evacuate when she was heading home from church.
Rivas recalls seeing the ash falling even though she was still a mile away from her house.
But by the time she got home, the road had been blocked off, blocking her from her home and her son.
“In every mom’s heart, that’s my baby, and I was telling the officer just let me go home and check on him because for a moment he was not answering the phone, and I was worried because he has asthma,” said Rivas.
Though there were no injuries reported or homes lost, Rivas pleads for others to keep their neighbors in mind when burning.
“Be very careful when burning. It affects not just you, but your neighbors and people miles away from you because of the large amount of land that burned,” said Rivas.
According to the N.C. Forestry Service (NCFS) crews were able to contain the fire with better mapping and strong containment lines. The fire will continue to smoke and smolder until adequate precipitation happens, and the NCFS is continuing to monitor the fire by ground personnel and aircraft.
“All agencies provided support at the utmost level of professionalism. Because of this, we were able to protect life, resources, and property without any injuries or homes lost. Conditions remain favorable for wildfire activity,” a N.C. Forestry Service representative said in a statement.
Fire crews say people on Ashton Road at Ashton Crossroads and McCrary Road are safe to return home. Earlier today, fire crews said people living on Ashton Road and McCrary Road needed to evacuate. Neighbors were asked to go to Heide Trask High School.
Several fire crews were on the scene of a large wildfire in Rocky Point Saturday for most of the afternoon and evening.
According to the NCFS, the fire grew to a total of 661 acres and is now 100% contained. A WECT News crew on the scene spotted planes overhead spraying water on the fire.
The NC Forest Service, Burgaw Fire Department, Rocky Point Volunteer Fire Department, and Pender County Emergency Management all responded.
No injuries or structural damage have been reported.
This is a developing story. We will continue to add details to this story as they become available.
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