ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. — Firefighters across our state are keeping busy with the ongoing dry weather.
Wildfires in the mountains have burned thousands of acres.
Numerous smaller fires are becoming a threat to homes here in the Triad.
"When you're burning you're putting your neighbor's property at risk and anybody around you," Rockingham County Fire Marshal Melissa Joyce said.
Last week, Joyce issued a burn ban throughout the county, after crews responded to more than 30 fires in a single weekend.
"With several of those fires, we had multiple buildings that were involved and got burned up and vehicles that got burned up in regards to it and it was just too much of a life risk," Joyce said.
The last time we saw dry conditions, of this magnitude was 2016.
In October and November of that year, more than 70,000 acres were burned in western North Carolina.
2016 was also the year of the major wildfires in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
"If rain does not come in the future, then we're actually lining up to be worse than we were in 2016," said Sam Griffith, Assistant District Forester with the North Carolina Forest Service.
To prepare for the worse, Griffith said additional resources have been brought to the Piedmont, from across the country.
"There's an engine team and engine strike team that was contracted from Montana right here in Reidsville. There's a 10 man,10 person hand crew module right down the road from where we stand right now. They're from Washington State...so the resources are here," Griffith said.
Without significant improvement in our weather conditions, we will likely see more outdoor fires in the Triad.
Rodney Cates, Director of Rockingham County Emergency Management said the fire calls are also stretching resources thin, increasing the need for volunteer firefighters.
As fires continue to burn in the mountains, Cates reminds citizens that it is possible to experience a devastating fire in our area as well.
"We have those same elements, the same elements that we've seen in other parts of the state, those same elements exist right here. It's one spark away from starting the same thing that we've seen in other places," said Cates.
If the dry conditions continue, Griffith said the Forest Service will likely extend the state-ordered burn ban into the Piedmont.