Gaston County Faces High Risk Of Wildfires

Gaston County experienced a rash of wildfires over the weekend, burning eight acres near Lake Wylie and two acres near Crowders Mountain. There was also a brush fire near the town of Stanly. All of these fires have been extinguished. However, Gastonia Assistant Fire Chief Tony Robinson warns that the risk of more fires will be high through at least late March. "Fires normally, that we've experienced, start in on somebody's property, and it extends out into a wooded area, and then it becomes that significant event that we don't want to face", Robinson says. The National Weather Service and the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources are especially worried about today because of high winds and warm temperatures. They say that no one should burn outdoors. State law bans outdoor burning from midnight to 4 p.m. in protected woodland.