Fire burning in Pisgah National Forest, land near Marion

MARION, NC (AP) — Authorities say a 150-acre fire is burning on the Grandfather Ranger District of the Pisgah National Forest and private land near Marion.

Officials with the U.S. Forest Service said in a news release Sunday that the Sugar Cove fire was burning in leaf litter and underbrush along the Haines Eyebrow Ridge. Oficials have temporarily closed N.C. Highway 80 to all but local traffic between Buck Creek Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway and Little Buck Road near Lake Tahoma.

No other road or trail closures are in effect. The public is asked to avoid the area for firefighter and public safety.

More than 40 workers from the North Carolina and U.S. Forest Service, local volunteer fire departments from McDowell County and McDowell County Emergency Management are on the scene.

The fire began Saturday afternoon.

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