Powerful winds from Helene knocked down large swaths of trees in western North Carolina, creating an environment susceptible to wildfires.

Helene wreaked havoc on the Tar Heel State in late September, producing historic floods and winds exceeding 100 mph.

Tens of thousands of trees fell and set the stage for a potentially dangerous situation for residents still dealing with destruction caused last month.

North Carolina State University Professor of Forest Ecology Robert Scheller said this tree mortality resulted in tree debris, such as leaves and branches, that can dry up and become fuel for a wildfire.

“Any fire is limited by the amount of fuels to feed it,” Scheller said to FOX Weather. “Specifically, a wildfire needs that small material to really spread.”

NORTH CAROLINA CHRISTMAS TREE INDUSTRY RECOVERS FROM HELENE AS HOPE FOR HOLIDAY SUPPLY REMAINS STRONG

He noted that different types of trees have variable flammability. Pine trees are perhaps the most flammable type of tree, as pine needles have high levels of flammable resins.

Oak trees, he said, are likely the second-most flammable, adding that oak trees are the trees that dominate western North Carolina.

Downed trees after Helene in Old Fort, North Carolina.

(Allison Joyce / AFP / Getty Images)

With so much fuel for kindling from the downed trees, western North Carolina is poised to have an increased wildfire risk.

To mitigate this risk, officials may attempt to put in fuel breaks, or areas that serve as barriers in the landscape to prevent a fire from easily spreading.

However, taking that approach in western North Carolina would be challenging, given the rugged terrain of the area and the devastated infrastructure.

One alternative solution involves implementing burn bans, according to Scheller.

An aerial view of a car and trees destroyed by flooding wrought by Hurricane Helene on October 3, 2024 in Black Mountain, North Carolina. 

(Mario Tama / Getty Images)

“We have to be careful,” he said. “Things are really dry right now, only getting drier. Where we need to be really careful is, on windy days, is to have a complete burn ban throughout that area.”

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Scheller noted that the next few months may help lessen the risk of wildfires, as fuel from blown-down trees becomes wet with snow and then begins to decay.

However, taking action sooner rather than later, especially during these dry conditions, is critical.

Pictures of spooky “ghost forests” in North Carolina have been snapped from space, and a comparison of NASA images show how the bald cypress forests are being killed off.

In 2024, the forests along the coastline of North Carolina’s Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula have grown increasingly brown, compared to the verdant green of the same region in 2005.

Ghost forests are coastal woodlands where trees have died due to rising sea levels, leading to saltwater intrusion and erosion. The salty water of the sea contaminates the groundwater that these forests rely on, affecting the soil chemistry and tree health, slowly killing the forests near the coast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Eventually, the dead trees fall over and decompose, but while they’re still standing, they appear eerily zombielike against the healthy surrounding landscape.

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“The closer a forest is to sea level, the greater the risk of tree death and the detection of ghost forests,” Xi Yang, an environmental scientist at the University of Virginia told NASA Earth Observatory.

These ghost forests are popping up around North Carolina and the East Coast, affecting a vast number of tree species from cypress to pines. The area affected by these dying trees is increasing rapidly, with a 2021 paper finding that 11 percent of forested land in North Carolina’s largest coastal wildlife refuge became ghost forest between 1985 and 2019.

“The formation of this ghost forest transition state peaked prominently between 2011 and 2012, following Hurricane Irene and a 5-year drought, with 4,500 ± 990 hectares of ghost forest forming during that year alone,” researchers wrote in the 2021 paper, published in the journal Ecological Applications.

This increase in ghost forest coverage is due to increasing sea levels worldwide, caused by spiking global temperatures and melting polar ice caps. Along the U.S. East Coast in particular, sea level rise appears to be being exacerbated by land subsidence, with North Carolina’s sea level rising three times faster than the worldwide average, at between 3 mm and 4 mm per year.

“The sinking on the East Coast is driven by several factors from natural to anthropogenic processes. The major natural processes are glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) and natural sediment compaction. The major anthropogenic factor is fluid withdrawal from the ground. These factors contribute to the sinking of the coast,” Leonard Ohenhen, previously a Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech, told Newsweek.

Forests along the coast serve as natural buffers, protecting inland areas from storm surges and erosion, meaning that their loss increases the vulnerability of coastal communities. Additionally, the increase in ghost forests in the bald cypress forests of North Carolina is killing off some of the oldest living trees in the eastern U.S.

“You can also see the effects of climate change collide with human development in Landsat images like this,” Duke University ecologist Emily Bernhardt told NASA Earth Observatory.

“Marshes shift locations over time as sea levels rise, but there’s nowhere for cypress forests to go. They’re already hemmed in by farmland or other development, so these iconic wetlands are getting squeezed and dying off in mass mortality events instead.”

References

Ury, E. A., Yang, X., Wright, J. P., & Bernhardt, E. S. (2021). Rapid deforestation of a coastal landscape driven by sea‐level rise and extreme events. Ecological Applications, 31(5). https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2339

The Florida State Seminoles will face off against the North Carolina Tar Heels in Tallahassee, Florida, on Saturday at 3:30 ET on ACC Network. FSU will look to bounce back after its first loss to the rival Miami Hurricanes in four years.

READ MORE: Blue-Chip Wide Receiver Decommits From Florida State Following 1-7 Start

North Carolina comes into this game with a 4-4 record. Their offense, led by quarterback Jacolby Criswell and running back Omarion Hampton, failed to score 30 points only twice through eight games. Their defense has had its ups and downs, though. The Tar Heels only gave up 14 to a scrappy Virginia team on the road last week (who put up 31 at Clemson two weeks ago) but gave 70 at home to James Madison in late September.

North Carolina head coach Mack Brown began his illustrious coaching career as a student wide receiver coach for Florida State. He won a national championship with the Texas Longhorns in 2005 and is currently serving his second stint as the Tar Heels head coach. From 1988 to 1997 and from 2019 until the present, Brown has never defeated his alma mater. With this game in Tallahassee as well, the 4-4 Tar Heels could end Brown’s 0-8 record against the Garnet and Gold.

Many fans will be glued to their screens or making the trip to the Sunshine State’s capitol this weekend to see their Seminoles in action, but if you’re looking for the pivotal matchups – the game within the game on Saturday – NoleGameday has you covered.

Against Miami last week, the ’Noles gave up 230 yards on the ground on 40 attempts, good for 5.8 yards per rush. Hampton, who has already eclipsed 1,000 yards rushing on the season, averages 5.6 yards a pop. Florida State picked its poison against the Hurricanes and held Heisman frontrunner QB Cam Ward to 208 yards through the air, the first time he’s failed to reach 300 yards on the season. This strategy kept the game within two scores more than halfway through the fourth quarter, but the ’Canes dominated the time of possession and limited the Seminoles to eight possessions the entire contest.

North Carolina, however, has maintained a top-40 passing attack despite Texas A&M transfer QB Max Johnson being out for the season with a broken leg. Jacolby Criswell has come in and averaged a 57th-best 7.65 yards per attempt. Cam Ward is 6th-best at 9.77 yards per attempt.

While Criswell’s passing ability should not be overlooked, the Florida State defense will be able to have more freedom in their game plan against the Tar Heels. FSU has a top-40 pass defense and fared well in man coverage through the air last week. With a threat like UNC’s Hampton on the ground, the Seminoles could get away with attributing more bodies to the run.

Nonetheless, they will still need to execute.

Of the eight opponents that Florida State has played this season, UNC has the second-worst rushing defense (65th), only better than Duke (88th).

When facing the Blue Devils, the Seminoles recorded 162 yards on the ground and had a chance to tie the game at the end despite losing the turnover battle by four (including three turnovers on three straight offensive plays).

If Florida State can tie or even possibly win the turnover margin on Saturday, the ’Noles could find themselves back in the win column for the second time this season.

Redshirt freshman FSU QB Brock Glenn is atop of the depth chart for the fifth straight week, but true freshman QB Luke Kromenhoek has received significant playing time in the last two games.

There’s a saying that if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. However, what can’t be denied is that the Tar Heels will have to prepare for two quarterbacks during their preparation this week. Both have similar skill sets, but Kromenhoek could be more prone to running the ball due to play calls with limited reads.

How UNC looks if Kromenhoek enters the game (and it’s likely he does) is certainly a key matchup for Saturday’s contest.

READ MORE: Luke Kromenhoek’s Legs Spark Florida State’s First Touchdown Drive Against Miami

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