The Pine Mountain community recently became North Carolina’s 25th Firewise USA site. Members of the community met with the N.C. Forest Service and South Mountain Volunteer Fire Department in recognition of their accomplishment in February. In 2017, Pine Mountain completed many tasks to better prepare its community for a wildfire. In addition to holding a fundraiser last July for the fire department by holding a yard sale and picnic at the fire station that raised $625, they organized a community wide awareness/education and cleanup day last spring. Residents were provided wildfire educational materials, asked to assess their own properties for wildfire preparedness and take needed mitigation actions.