Fires under investigation by Hamlet Fire Department

HAMLET — Two fires in the same district on Thursday are both under investigation.

The Hamlet Fire Department responded to one fire at 345 High Street, the site of a former store which was being used for storage, according to Asst. Chief Richard Lassiter.

The second fire — on Lindsey Drive, off of Wiregrass Road just south of U.S. 1 — burned two modular homes and less than three acres of land, Lassister said.

Two families have been displaced, Lassister said, and the American Red Cross has been called in to provide assistance.

The East Rockingham Fire Department responded as mutual aid to both calls; and the N.C. Forest Service, Cordova Fire and Rescue, and the county fire marshal responded to the Lindsey Drive fire.

A lack of rain in the past two months has made the county susceptible to wildfires.

On July 15, three of the seven wildfires across the state were in District 3, which includes Richmond, Anson, Chatham, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Scotland and Stanly counties. The fires in the district burned 85.4 acres, according to the Forest Service.

The NCFS Public Wildfire Viewer shows a tenth of an acre recently burned off of Watkins Loop Road.