Firemen battle field fires in Vander

Vander firefighters were called to unrelated field fires less than two miles from each other within 30 minutes Monday.

"It's getting to be that time of year, the spring fire season," said Richard Bradshaw, assistant chief of the Vander Fire Department.

Firefighters were called about 10:45 a.m. to the 4800 block of Tabor Church Road, where they found a field on fire, Bradshaw said.

The fire, fueled by dried grass, was in a difficult location to get to and at one time threatened three residences, Bradshaw said.

By the time the fire had been put out, it had burned from 4 to 5 acres, Bradshaw said.

Meanwhile, as they were fighting that fire, another blaze was reported on McKimmon Road, Bradshaw said. That fire was quickly doused and burned about an acre, Bradshaw said.

Firefighters from six stations and the N.C. Forestry Service assisted on the fires, he said.

The cause of the fires was not known, but Bradshaw said it could have been someone who was burning yard debris.

"You got a lot of people trying to get out and want to start cleaning the yard up," Bradshaw said.

Burning yard debris is allowed in the county, he said.

There's been plenty of rain through the winter, Bradshaw said, but the moisture is mostly underground, leaving the top layers of grass, dried leaves and dead sticks.

"I know we've had a lot of rain and people will say I'm crazy ... but everything on top of the ground is dry," Bradshaw said.

And if it catches fire, he said, it's like throwing gasoline on top of it.

"All it takes is a gust of wind," Bradshaw said.