Growing 2,500-acre wildfire prompts closures on Blue Ridge Parkway, Appalachian Trail
An out-of-control wildfire in western Virginia has prompted closures on the Blue Ridge Parkway and Appalachian Trail near the North Carolina state line, according to federal officials.
The Matts Creek Fire covers 2,500 acres of forest and is “zero percent contained,” the U.S. Forest Service reported on Wednesday, Nov. 15.
A 20-mile section of the Blue Ridge Parkway has been gated indefinitely to help an estimated 120 firefighters keep the fire from spreading, the National Park Service says. Detours are in place from milepost 66.3, near U.S. Highway 501, to milepost 85.9, at VA Route 43.
“The Parkway is closed to all uses including motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians,” park officials said.
“This proactive closure is due to worsening smoke impacts in the area and allows crews to stage equipment and conduct operations south of the fire boundary using Parkway lands to access the area.”
The fire was reported Nov. 12 in the James River Face Wilderness and is “entirely on National Forest lands within the Jefferson National Forest,” officials say. The cause remains unknown.
Other wilderness closures due to the fire:
Appalachian Trail (FT #1) from James River Foot Bridge to Petite’s Gap Road (FR #35)
James River Foot Bridge Parking Lot
Matts Creek Trail (FT #4/Old A.T.)
Piney Ridge Trail (FT #2)
Balcony Falls Trail (FT #7)
Gunther Ridge Trail (FT #8)
Belfast Trail (FT #9)
Sulphur Springs Trail (FT #3001)
The Blue Ridge Parkway covers 469 miles of winding road “along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains through North Carolina and Virginia,” according to the NPS. It begins at Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park and ends at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.
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