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Sauratown Mountain blaze grows to cover nearly 350 acres

Smoke is seen from a fire burning on Sauratown Mountain in Stokes County on Sunday, November 11, 2023. Photo courtesy of Tom Dollenmayer.

Smoke is seen from a fire burning on Sauratown Mountain in Stokes County on Sunday, November 11, 2023. Photo courtesy of Tom Dollenmayer. 

Fire crews continue to battle a blaze on Sauratown Mountain in Stokes County. 

Guilford County Ranger Jimmy Holt says that in addition to regional fire departments, crews from Oregon, Utah, Washington State, and Montana are assisting in suppressing the blaze, which he estimates has grown to almost 350 acres.

Holt says crews tried to establish a fire line east of the blaze, where it threatened nearly 15 homes and some communication towers.

"The fire did jump the line sometime last night probably around six or seven o'clock," says Holt. "At that point, Stokes County emergency management did go ahead with evacuations of homes on Sauratown Mountain Road."

About 50 campers were also evacuated from a mountaintop youth camp north of the fire. No injuries have been reported.

Holt says that anticipated rainfall Monday night and Tuesday will significantly help efforts to extinguish the blaze.

"Once the rain event has moved out, we'll use that opportunity to put in additional control lines, contingency lines, with the help of hand crews on the ground as well as heavy equipment to establish good lines around the fire," says Holt. 

Holt says several fires around the state are straining resources, and he urges residents to curtail any outside burning. 

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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