Above: The Horton Fire, as seen from the entrance to Blue Ridge Mountain Club at 5 p.m.November 22, 2016. Incident Management Team photo.
(UPDATED at 11:20 a.m. ET November 23, 2016)
The Horton Fire seven miles southeast of Boone, North Carolina was very active Tuesday night, continuing to spread to the east and southeast. It is burning on all sides of Dugger Mountain northeast of Joe’s Creek and has covered an estimated 761 acres as of Tuesday night.
No homes have been destroyed but 55 remain threatened. Firefighters are burning out fuels around structures in order to protect them.
Mandatory evacuations remain in effect near Watson Drive.
Fire managers expect the fire to grow to 1,500 acres on Wednesday . The weather forecast for the fire area calls for 54 degrees, 6 mph winds out of the south, 30 percent relative humidity, and partly cloudy skies. There is a 35 percent chance of rain Wednesday night, and conditions on Thursday will be more favorable for firefighters with the humidity in the 70s.
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(Originally published at 6:27 p.m. ET November 22, 2016)
A fire that started Monday evening seven miles southeast of Boone, North Carolina is forcing some residents to evacuate. By Tuesday afternoon, according to the incident management team, the Horton Fire had burned 700 to 800 acres.
The fire is burning in steep, heavily wooded country, and is threatening 55 homes six miles east of Blowing Rock, NC.
The weather in the fire area on Wednesday is predicted to be moderate for fire behavior — partly cloudy with a 5 mph wind out of the south and 53 degrees, but the relative humidity will be fairly low, bottoming out at 31 percent. There is a slight chance of precipitation Wednesday night. The relative humidity will be high on Thursday– 75 percent.
For the latest articles at Wildfire Today about how smoke from the wildfires is affecting various locations in the South, check out the articles tagged “smoke”.
