Keith Strange | The News
North Carolina Forestry Service officials Brian Elam, in foreground, and Kevin Harrell address the Board of Commissioners, updating them on the Nov. 8 fire at Pilot Mountain State Park.
DOBSON — If the ears of officials at the North Carolina Department of Parks and Recreation were burning Monday night, there was good reason.
While no officials from the department were on hand as the Surry County Board of Commissioners received an update on November’s fire at Pilot Mountain State Park, they received plenty of blame.
The update came as the board met for its regularly-scheduled meeting in the Commissioner’s Meeting Room at the Surry County Government Center.
During the update, North Carolina Forestry Service official Brian Elam, whose department took over fighting the blaze, said the planned controlled burn should have never taken place.
“I thought they’d have more common sense than to burn on such windy days,” he said.
It was a sentiment echoed by the board.
“I think the one error in your judgement is in assuming the government has common sense,” Commissioner Larry Phillips commented.
Noting that in his opinion, the fire should have never been started under the blustery conditions, Elam said a comprehensive review of the policies that led to the Nov. 8 fire was under way and the outcome should be forthcoming.
“There are going to be a lot of changes made to the burn program,” he said. “Hopefully, within the next couple of weeks or so, the changes will be announced in a public document.”
And the forest service official said there could be legal action as a result of the fire.
“There will probably be a written warning taken out, but I don’t expect there to be any fine or anything involved,” he said.
But that did little to quell the obvious frustration among the board.
Commissioner R.F. “Buck” Golding, who attended a follow-up community meeting, cited the lack of public information released during the blaze.
“The thing that bothered me most about it from the local standpoint is the lack of warning people received, especially those people who have breathing problems in the community,” he said. “It seemed like there was no backup plan in place should the fire get out of hand.”
Phillips agreed.
“What I want to hear tonight is something will be done to inform the citizens,” he said. “They were kept out of the loop. This county has the capacity to not put its citizens behind the curve.”
Elam said it’s something his department “can do better.”
“The state park service obviously didn’t get the word out, and by the time my department took over, my plan had to be more about controlling the fire than working with the media to get the word out.”
While Elam noted the fire wasn’t catastrophic, he acknowledged things could have been handled differently.
Responding to critics who were angry local fire departments weren’t used to battle the blaze, he noted he was holding them in reserve should the fire threaten standing structures surrounding the park.
“The terrain was so bad we didn’t want more people in jeopardy,” he said. “And we wanted to save them should the fire get down and burn toward structures. We wanted to keep them in reserve so that should it get that low we’d have some resources to provide structure protection.”
Elam said that following a Dec. 19 meeting on the state level to review the incident, sweeping changes can be expected.
“They’re in the process of rewriting their entire procedure and burn protocol,” he said. “I’m hoping it will be available within the next few weeks.”
But the board said it was telling that no one was on hand from the Department of Parks and Recreation.
“(Forestry Service officials) are here taking the heat and the park service isn’t even here,” said Commissioner Paul Johnson.
“The people who should be held accountable and responsible are tap dancing around the issue,” Phillips added.
Reach Keith Strange at kstrange@civitasmedia.com or 719-1929.
No one from the NC Division of Parks and Recreation or Pilot Mountain State Park was informed of, or invited to this commissioners meeting or I would have attended. I understand from talking to some of the commissioners that it was intended for NC State Parks to be notified and attend but this was not communicated to us. Since the bulk of your article is based on criticizing our lack of attendance I would appreciate it if you would clarify this in your newspaper. Before the prescribed burn on November 8, the Mt. Airy News was also the first newspaper and the first of many agencies we contacted to issue a public service announcement on November 5th, which you elected not to print, and subsequently criticized state parks for not communicating to the local paper. We have attempted to keep this newspaper informed but communication must work both ways.
Thank you,
Matt Windsor
Park Superintendent
Pilot Mountain State Park