by Thomas (K4SWL)
I want to start by saying: if you’ve tried contacting me by email lately, you’ve probably noticed I’m far behind. This winter and spring were always going to be busy, but Hurricane Helene increased everything by orders of magnitude. I’m struggling to keep up with correspondence, fitting in POTA activations, and finding free time. That said, I’m looking forward to taking a much-needed break for Four Days in May and Hamvention in a couple of weeks.
But that’s not the reason for this post. I wanted to share a little drama from our community this past week.
Forest Fire
April brought extremely dry weather to western North Carolina. In fact, much of this year we’ve been battling wildfires. Many of you have reached out after seeing the news — thank you. Until last week, the fires had stayed in other parts of our county or neighboring ones. Still, conditions have been perfect for fire: dry air, gusty winds, and an incredible amount of tree debris left behind after Helene.
On Monday, we drove to town to drop our daughters off at a class and run errands. Around 2:45 PM, just as I was about to pick them up, a neighbor called to tell me a wildfire had broken out on our road — just over a mile from our house. He didn’t have many details, only that firefighters were already on the scene thanks to an early alert from another neighbor.
Most of the family was with me, but Hazel, our sweet dog, was still at home. We raced back, hoping our road wouldn’t be closed.
From about 12 miles away on Interstate 40, we could already see plumes of smoke rising from our valley. It was a concerning sight. We also reached out to neighbors — many of whom were at home — to check in and share updates.
Fortunately, when we reached our road, one lane was still open for local traffic. Firefighters told us there were no immediate evacuation orders, but we needed to be ready.
Back at the house, we found Hazel peacefully sleeping through all the excitement — just as she did during Hurricane Helene. From the windows, we could clearly see smoke billowing from the nearby mountain.
Stage 1 Packing
Since January, my wife and I had discussed what we’d pack if a wildfire threatened. We spent about 15 minutes gathering:
- Essential items: IDs, passports (most critical documents are already in a safety deposit box)
- Hazel’s essentials
- Laptops, tablets, phones, and backup drives
- Important keepsakes like photos and our wedding certificate
- My wife’s paintings
- Clothes, toiletries, and medications for a few days
We were already in touch with Vlado (N3CZ). If we had to evacuate, we planned to go to his house instead of a hotel, so we packed accordingly.
There was no panic. Thanks to GMRS radios, we could share real-time updates with neighbors. (Side note: soon, our fire department will also be tied into our community GMRS system!)
Stage 2 Packing
After the essentials, we prepared “nice-to-have” items: radios, antennas, batteries, sentimental gear, and other things that would be difficult to replace. I also installed our Thule cargo box on the Subaru for extra space.
We packed essentials into the car and staged the rest inside for quick loading if needed.
Containment
By 6:00 PM, we heard the fire was about 50% contained — thanks to the quick, coordinated work of six or seven fire departments and the Forest Service, who were using Chinooks to drop water and bulldozing a fire break.
By 11:00 PM, the fire was fully contained, burning less than 20 acres in total. Rain moved into the area by 6:00 the next morning — our first real rain in ages — and thankfully continued for much of the week.
Lessons Learned
Western North Carolina usually has boring, predictable weather. Wildfires have always been extremely rare here — we’re in a humid subtropical and temperate zone, after all.
We are profoundly grateful to the firefighters and Forest Service who jumped on this fire early. Their swift action made all the difference. No homes were lost, and no personal property was damaged.
We were also pleased with how calmly and efficiently we packed. Our investment in GMRS radios really paid off, too — it kept communication open when it mattered most.
As for the cause of the fire? Frustratingly, it was completely preventable. A homeowner had burned brush and left it unattended for an extended time. When they returned, it had already spread into the forest. Hopefully, they learned a hard lesson (and will likely face a significant fine).
All’s well that ends well.
Radio Side Note
I’ve often wondered which radios I’d grab if I ever had to evacuate. Turns out, when it came time to act, there was no philosophical debate — I simply packed favorites, sentimental rigs, and anything difficult to replace.
After essentials were secured, I quickly packed radios into my favorite field backpacks. Fortunately, little QRP radios are easy to grab, and my shack was already organized.
Here’s what I packed:
- All Elecraft radios (I also staged the KXPA100, but didn’t end up needing to unhook it)
- All Mountain Toppers (MTR-3Bs and MTR-5B)
- All Pennteks (TR-45L, TR-45L Skinny, and TR-35)
- CFT1
- Mission RGO One
- Ten-Tec Argonaut VI
I also grabbed a few batteries and accessories like my RigExpert analyzer. Everything fit easily into my field packs — the vintage Swiss rucksack had impressive capacity!
You might wonder why I didn’t pack radios like my Yaesu FT-818ND, which I also love. I focused mainly on rarer, harder-to-replace gear. There are many more FT-817s and FT-818s floating around than there are Elecraft KX1s, Pennteks, Mountain Toppers, and Mission RGO Ones combined.
Moving Forward
We learned a lot. Here’s what we’ll do differently next time:
- Prepare an empty storage box large enough to quickly hold essentials like laptops, backup drives, documents, and photos with a checklist and pencil inside.
- Take Hazel with us, even on short trips, when wildfire conditions are high.
- Set up a scanner to monitor fire communications in real-time (assuming they’re not encrypted).
- Move even more documents and valuables into our safety deposit box.
- Digitize more of our photo collection.
At the end of the day, we’re just so grateful: to the neighbors who spotted the fire early, to the fire departments who attacked it hard, and to the rain that gave our dry region a much-needed break.
If you’ve ever had to go through a process like this, I’m curious to hear what lessons you might have to share with us. Feel free to comment.