NORTH CAROLINA — Everything is so dry that even the slightest spark could mean disaster -- it is becoming a real and growing threat.
Several firefighters from California have traveled across the country to North Carolina to help prepare, prevent and fight wildfires, if necessary.
The memories of 2016 and the wildfires are prompting the mountain crews' early preparation. Seventy-thousand acres burned in North Carolina and smoke forced evacuations as far as Charlotte.
"That was something new for us to have a fall fire season that intense and some of the indices are indicating that we are in the same situation," U.S. Forest Service spokesperson Greg Phillip said.
Watch the video at the top of the page as Meteorologist John Ahrens met some California firefighters who have come to the Carolinas and last year, braved one of the deadliest fires in U.S. history.
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