Updated: Monday, March 31, 2026, at 7:03 a.m.
According to the N.C. Forest Service, the fire is currently 600 acres and 50% contaned.
Updated: Monday, March 30, 2026, at 5:02 p.m.
On Sunday at approximately 4:00 p.m., Wilkes County Emergency Services received a report of a brush fire on Cane Creek Church Road in McGrady, North Carolina. It’s an unincorporated community of roughly 1,000 people. The local fire department arrived on the scene shortly afterward and found three to four acres on fire, and spreading rapidly.
According to the N.C. Forest Service, the fire grew to over 600 acres with 20% containment as of Monday afternoon.
"Zero structures have been lost," says Dion Burleson with the Wilkes County Emergency Management Planning Division. "Twenty structures are being threatened, and the focus from the local fire departments is on structural protection, to concentrate on mitigating high flammable articles such as light brush and debris."
He says six people voluntarily evacuated from their vacation homes and returned to their primary residences. Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire.
Burleson asks that people adhere to the statewide burn ban until further notice.
Updated: Monday, March 30, 2026, at 8:28 a.m.
Crews are responding to a wildfire near Cane Creek Church Road in Wilkes County, according to WXII.
The outlet says evacuations are underway in the McGrady community, north of Wilkesboro. The Wilkes County Sheriff's Department is assisting the McGrady Fire Department.
As of 8:28 a.m. on Monday, March 30, the North Carolina Forest Service's interactive map shows the wildfire to be 350 acres (up from 140 yesterday evening) and 5% contained. It also shows another 45-acre fire in Wilkes County, 15% contained.
North Carolina is currently under a statewide ban on open burning due to hazardous forest fire conditions.
WFDD will continue to monitor this developing story.