Steve Leaman got in his excavator and commenced with digging a fire break as soon as he received word at 12:30 a.m. Sunday that a wildfire was threatening his forested neighborhood south of the city.
Leaman, who lives on Gibson Jack Road, said he and many of his neighbors learned lessons from the Charlotte Fire in June of 2012, which destroyed Leaman’s home. He later rebuilt on the same location. And Leaman knew just how to respond to the latest fire, which moved quickly, destroyed a responding firetruck and forced dozens of evacuations.
On Sunday night, the Bureau of Land Management said firefighters had the blaze 80 percent contained with full containment expected by noon Monday. The fire’s not expected to be fully extinguished until sometime Tuesday.