Fire officials are having flashbacks to the fall of 2016 when wildfires burned nearly 60,000 acres across North Carolina.
Sam Griffith, with North Carolina Forest Service's District 10 office, says this year could be just as bad, if not worse.
The N.C. Forest Service uses readiness plans to determine its daily staffing levels for emergency response resources. They range from 1 to 5. On Oct. 8, the district was at a level 3.
They say high winds, low humidity and the recent dry spell are a dangerous combination.
"A fire can move faster than you can run," said Griffith, District 10 Service Forester.
That was the case Friday night near Winston-Salem. Meghan Nut came across a brush fire near Transou Road when she was driving home. She says the fire grew incredibly fast in the few minutes it took firefighters to arrive.