Crews respond to wildfire in Linville Gorge area

NEBO, N.C. — Firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service responded to a wildfire Thursday near Shortoff Mountain at the south end of Linville Gorge, on the Grandfather Ranger District of Pisgah National Forest, officials said.

Click to watch video of wildfire from Chopper 9.

The Hamer family lives down the road from a trail that leads into the Linville Gorge that is now closed.

"It's scary but there (is not) a whole lot you can do about it living out here," Kentina Hamer said Friday.

The U.S. Forest Service said the fire covered 35 acres, but with Friday’s winds they believe that it may be more than twice that size.

Crews set backfires on the south side to protect homes and property in the area.

"We're actually using fire to fight fire,” said Lisa Jennings with the U.S. Forest Service. “Removing those fuels, and that's what increases containment."

They do not know what started the fire.

Several groups of college students on spring break had to change their hiking plans at the last minute.

"We were going come up the east side and come down the west side and we got turned around,” student Mike Valerino said. “They had rangers and different fire crews up there."

Rangers shut down the trails and the east entrance.

The fire has not crossed over the Linville River.

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