Cherokee County Wildfire Update - Saturday Midday

Your generosity makes us proud to live in this community.  

Cherokee County Ranger Charles Choplin shared a photo of donations already coming in.  The photo to the right are donations that had come in by early morning.    Teresa Choplin (Charles' wife) had contacted WKRK yesterday evening to see if the community could come together and help feed and hydrate the firefighters.    The Choplins and firefighters are overwhelmed with your generosity.  

Items needed are bottled water, Gatorade, cans of Beanee Weenee, potted meat, Vienna sausages, etc ... anything with a pop up lid that can be easily opened/consumed in the woods while fighting wildfires.  The Forest Service office is on the Tri-County Community College campus just past the Enloe Building.   The address is 150 Campus Circle, Murphy, NC  28906.   Items may be left on the porch.  

You may also leave items at Save A Lot in Murphy or Quality Inn in Andrews.  Also, many churches and other organizations are coming together to show their support.   

Items donated will be used for both Cherokee and Clay counties.  Thank you from all of us at WKRK!

UPDATE FROM DISPATCH

​11:20 am Saturday - Cherokee County Dispatch provided the following updates to WKRK:

- Vengeance Creek Fire is contained and still smoldering. Crews are keeping an eye on this area in case a flare up happens.

- Bates Creek Fire is also contained and still smoldering. Crews continue to keep an eye on it in case of a flare up.

- Grape Creek Fire Department is conducting a control burn in the area of Hidden Waters Lane for training/preparation.

- Heavy smoke is expected in Murphy and Andrews and surrounding community from drift. The smoke does not need to be reported, but if you see an actual wildfire that has not been reported, please call 911 with the location of the fire.

For the safety of our community and firefighters, please refrain from outdoor burning.

FROM CHEROKEE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGMENT - 12 pm Saturday

There were multiple wild land fires in Cherokee County Friday. Outdoor fuel moisture levels are at critical breaking lows. The low fuel moisture levels caused wild land fires to spread more quickly and increases the difficulty of containing and extinguishing the fire. Please postpone all outdoor burning until further notice.

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