A wildfire in the Linville Gorge wilderness has more than doubled to 1,300 acres, much of it from efforts to burn off fuels that could stoke it.
The U.S. Forest Service said the 160 firefighters at the scene had 20 percent of the fire contained, up from 585 acres and 10 percent containment Monday morning.
The White Creek fire is burning near iconic Shortoff Mountain at the southern end of the gorge in Pisgah National Forest.
The current strategy is to starve the wildfire of the fuels it needs to continue burning. Firefighters are doing that by igniting low-intensity back burns to consume the fuel.
“This fire is in the wilderness, so the firefighters are dealing with limited access due to (steep) terrain and the need to make minimal impacts to wildernesss,” said Forest Service spokeswoman Lisa Jennings.