Doughton Park fire rained out

A forest fire in Doughton Park along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Wilkes County was monitored with limited firefighting efforts last week due to steep, hard-to-access terrain and the assistance of rain, said Brent Pennington, District Ranger for the Highlands District of the Parkway. Pennington said the fire, in the Brooks Branch and Cove Creek areas of western Doughton Park in Wilkes County, apparently started from lightning and scorched about 15 acres. He noted that a plane flying over had originally estimated the fire to be larger than it actually was.

“Original estimates were for a 30-acre fire, but when we got someone on the ground there, it turned out to be considerably smaller,” said Pennington. “Since there weren’t any trails or roads to access the area, we had people out there on foot on steep terrain covered in laurels and rhododendrons. It was hard to find, hard to get around and located in some extremely rugged, hard-to-get-to country.”

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