BRUNSWICK COUNTY — Emergency response, in particular fire service funding, was at the forefront of a county commissioner discussion after a wildfire triggered evacuations and a now-lifted state of emergency. Meanwhile, an advocacy group pushes the county for extended water access to reduce fire risk.
READ MORE: Man charged in connection to Sunset Road wildfire, now 83% contained
ALSO: Brunswick residents face dried up wells, irrigation restrictions amid statewide drought
After Potential Tropical Cyclone #8 caused severe flooding in Brunswick County last fall, commissioner Randy Thompson attempted to enact a 120-day development moratorium due to the adequacy of the county’s emergency services, strained infrastructure capacity, and uncoordinated evacuation plans between municipalities. He raised similar concerns at the May 5 commissioner meeting amid a recent wildfire on Sunset Road in nearby Boiling Spring Lakes.
The fire grew to upward of 1,500 acres, inciting states of emergency in the town of BSL and the county and many evacuations, and took ten days to contain after starting May 2. No one was injured and no homes were lost, though nearby municipalities and governments sent in crews to battle it alongside the North Carolina Forest Service.
“The county has been extremely fortunate that our lack of fire response personnel operating in each district hasn’t created a disaster for our residents,” Thompson said.
In September, commissioners requested staff present options to balance the county’s fast-paced development with sufficient infrastructure and emergency response management. County manager Steve Stone presented recommendations including moving away from the county’s “fire fee” system to a “fire tax” method of funding local fire departments. Fire fees are calculated based on the heated square footage of buildings and by acreage for vacant land. Alternatively, fire taxes are based on property values.
While the county plans to transition to the fire tax system to increase funding next year, Thompson advocated allocating funds in the upcoming budget to increase pay to volunteer department staff with districts extending into county coverage. Chair Mike Forte, Commissioner Marty Cooke, and Commissioner Frank Thompson argued more time was necessary to understand the proposal.
St. James Mayor Jean Toner told Port City Daily Friday municipal officials have repeatedly met with the county to express concerns about a broad range of emergency response issues, including overlap between municipal and county fire department districts, insufficient funding, and evacuation planning coordination.
“All of the local mayors are very concerned about the health and welfare of our residents,” Toner said. “We continue to express our concerns to the county. We can only control what we have under our jurisdiction. And, unfortunately, the way the state system is set up for fire response, we are assigned areas that we are to respond to but are not under our control.”
Toner noted inadequate water line access in sections of the county as another point of concern. The Brunswick County NAACP and international human rights organization EarthRights have repeatedly requested county staff apply for state water grants to provide residents using private wells with connections to public utilities.
“We emphasize that Brunswick County’s water access issues are intertwined with disaster preparation,” EarthRights campaign officer Audrey Schreiber said. “Residents in neighborhoods without water lines or fire hydrants are more vulnerable to widespread fire devastation. As the planet warms, and extreme weather events like wildfires become more likely, Brunswick County must make sure that it is preparing responsibly, and that means prioritizing extending water lines and fire hydrants to all neighborhoods.”
Brunswick County chair Mike Forte lifted the county’s state of emergency last Tuesday after emergency responders contained the majority of the Sunset Road wildfire. As of the North Carolina Forest Service’s most recent Thursday update, the Sunset Road wildfire is 95% contained around the City of Boiling Spring Lakes.
According to the Forest Service, 4,101 wildfires have burned 25,629 acres in North Carolina so far this year. State officials recently raised concerns that insufficient funding and personnel shortages hindered emergency responses to fires this year.
The agency determined last week the Sunset Road wildfire was ignited by Boiling Springs resident Bobby Lowery after he burned debris on his property on May 2. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the county was experiencing moderate drought conditions at the time — putting it at higher risk of wildfires — and is currently in the less-severe “abnormally dry” category.
The North Carolina Climate State Climate Office found last June to be the driest in North Carolina’s history. Some Brunswick residents reported water shortages at the time as the area suffered moderate drought conditions, which the county determined was caused by the inability of the existing infrastructure to convey and treat water at peak demand levels. Schreiber expressed concerns similar occurrences will worsen from climate change.
“I worry about the safety of Brunswick County residents who don’t have fire hydrants on their streets,” she said. “I worry about how long it takes the fire department to ensure they have enough water to put out fires in their houses. We know from fire administrator Malcolm Nance that in 10 years — from 2014 to 2024 — there were over 600 structure fires in Brunswick County outside of a 1,000 feet from a fire hydrant.”
North Carolina has the highest acreage of Wildlife/Urban Interface — the area where communities intermix with undeveloped vegetation — in the country.
“As development has increased in North Carolina over the past few decades, a large number of homes and communities have been built in Wildland/Urban Interface areas, increasing their risk for exposure to wildfire,” the Forest Service stated. “While many people think of western states such as California as being particularly prone to wildfire destruction, the problem also exists in North Carolina.”
Multiple residents have raised concerns at commission and planning board meetings that fast-paced development has threatened evacuation routes with congested traffic. Last September, resident Marjorie Burnside questioned how the 3,700 unit Midway Tract development would impact roadways in the event of an accident at Brunswick Nuclear Plant.
An April 2024 Government Accountability Office report found around 20% of the nation’s nuclear power plants are located in areas with a high or very high risk of wildfires — including Brunswick Nuclear Plant. GAO analyzed U.S. Forest Service and NRC data to make the assessment, which recommended regulators take additional measures to address climate data projecting increased wildfire frequency due to exacerbated heat and drought conditions.
GAO stated wildfires pose risks to nuclear plants including increased the risk of onsite fires that can damage plant infrastructure, damaging transmission lines that deliver electricity used to maintain operations, and hindering personnel and supplies from accessing the plant.
“NRC’s actions to address risks from natural hazards do not fully consider potential climate change effects,” the report stated. “For example, NRC primarily uses historical data in its licensing and oversight processes rather than climate projections data. NRC officials GAO interviewed said they believe their current processes provide an adequate margin of safety to address climate risks. However, NRC has not conducted an assessment to demonstrate that this is the case.”
