Dismal Swamp blaze Virginia and Pocasin Refuge NC Code RED

Dismal Swamp blaze continues toward state line

The fire has destroyed more than 800 acres since Monday.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/southofjames/dp-local_swampfire_0612jun12,0,6102116.story

SUFFOLK - The swamp is so dry that a fire has consumed more than 800 acres.

The blaze broke out Monday at the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Suffolk. For an unknown reason, a piece of heavy equipment owned by a contractor caught fire around 3 p.m., refuge manager Chris Lowie said.

The contractor had been completing logging work to reduce the amount of materials that could catch fire and to prepare wildlife habitat.

The fire soon raged out of control and jumped a road, Lowie said. He's hoping the fire doesn't jump another road as it barrels south toward North Carolina. The refuge spans 111,000 acres of forested wetlands that stretch into North Carolina. The fire is wiping out portions of an Atlantic white cedar restoration project that started in 2003, Lowie said.

For three years, refuge officials have been working on taking out the white cedars Hurricane Isabel felled. Clearing the downed trees would open the forest floor to sunlight and rain and enable seeds from surviving cedars to take root, Lowie said.

"Probably a year of work is going to be lost because there won't be any Atlantic white cedars left to produce seeds," Lowie said. "It's going to be a hit to that restoration project. We may have to go back in with plantings in the future."

Atlantic white cedars can be found in a narrow strip along the Atlantic coastline, and its habitat is "increasingly rare due to coastal development," according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource Conservation Service.

About 600 acres of the restoration project haven't been scorched — but the fire's headed that way.

The forest is ripe for fire, Lowie said. The area has been in a drought for going on two years now. Spring rains haven't made a dent, he said. "It's still dry as a bone out there."

Smoke from the North Carolina fire drifted over Hampton Roads Tuesday night. But late Tuesday, a cold front blew through, bringing winds from the north rather than from the south, said Mike Harvey, chief meteorologist for WTKR-TV Channel 3. That means smoke from the Suffolk fire probably won't settle over Hampton Roads.

"That has really been a godsend that we had the winds shift away," Harvey said. "I have bad news for the folks in North Carolina. It's blowing right into their area."

The refuge has been using ground crews and helicopters to contain the blaze. About 75 workers were on the scene Wednesday afternoon.

A National Incident Command Team will take over logistics of fire suppression.

Lowie said he has no idea how long it'll burn.

"We're doing everything we can."

http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=8418291&nav=0RZc



Previous Coverage:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Smoke from a massive wildfire in far eastern North Carolina that has drifted hundreds of miles to the west is having a much worse effect on air quality that originally forecast.
The state Division of Air Quality issued a Code Red notice for Thursday and Friday for the Triangle area of Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham, as well as the Rocky Mount area.
A Code Red means the air quality is forecast to be generally unhealthy. An air quality division spokesman said the state's monitors are "just off the charts."
The North Carolina wildfire has burned more than 39,000 acres -- upward of 60 square miles -- in and around the Pocosin Lakes Wildlife Refuge since a lightning strike ignited the blaze June 1 on privately owned land.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Previous Coverage:
NC wildfire sends up smoke, 50 homes evacuated
COLUMBIA, N.C. (AP) -- Drifting smoke from a wildfire burning in a rural area of eastern North Carolina may affect drivers' visibility as far as the northern Outer Banks, authorities said Wednesday.
The fire began with a lightning strike June 1 in the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, about 40 miles from the Atlantic coast, and has burned across 40,195 acres, or about 63 square miles. Authorities responded by ordering the evacuation of some 50 homes in a Hyde County subdivision, an order still in effect Wednesday afternoon.
The evacuated homes are near a wheat field ready for harvesting, fire spokesman Dean McAlister said. He said Hyde County emergency management officials have asked the field's owner to harvest the wheat, plow under the stalks and burn any remaining debris to lessen the fire danger.
"Our hope is that by the end of the burning period today, the residents will be able to return to their homes," but local officials will make that decision, he said.
Authorities said the fire was 40 percent contained.
The National Weather Service said southwest to west winds at the Pocosin fire will push smoke toward U.S. Highways 64 and 264, two major routes for vacationers headed to the Outer Banks, as well as N.C. Highway 94.
McAlister said residents of Washington and Plymouth were likely to see smoke Wednesday, and the weather service said the smoke could travel as far as the Outer Banks, north of Rodanthe, about 50 miles away.
Meanwhile, as winds are forecast to shift, the state Division of Air Quality issued a health notice for Thursday for areas west of the fire, including Fayetteville and Raleigh because of fine particle pollution from the fire.
The division issued a Code Orange warning, meaning air quality is likely to be unhealthy for sensitive groups. In the case of fine particle pollution, those groups include people with heart conditions, who aren't included when the warning is issued for the more common warm weather problem of ozone.
Rain fell on the fire Tuesday but wasn't enough to help for more than 24 hours. It has cost almost $1.4 million to fight the fire, not including assistance from local and federal agencies.
Separately, a fire in the Virginia portion of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was creeping toward North Carolina. Refuge manager Chris Lowie told The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Va., said a contractor's timbering equipment caught fire Monday afternoon. The fire began at about 30 acres and had grown to about 500 acres, he said.
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

fair use for discussion:


http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/3036203/




Smoke from massive NC wildlife spreads west

By MARTHA WAGGONER
Associated Press Writer
Posted: Jun. 12 6:27 p.m.
Updated: Jun. 12 10:09 p.m.
RALEIGH, N.C. — A veteran employee of the U.S. Postal Service, Bobby Lilly is accustomed to dealing with the ozone that can settle over Raleigh on a hot, summer day.
But he's not so familiar with working in the stinky smoke that descended on the state capital Thursday morning, arriving on the wind from a massive wildfire nearly 200 miles to the east.
"This isn't going to go away so easy," he said. "It just seems to stay with you."
For the first time since a lightning strike ignited the blaze in far eastern North Carolina earlier this month, smoke from the fire led the state Division of Air Quality to issue a Code Red notice - meaning the air quality was forecast to be generally unhealthy. The warning covers the Triangle area of Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham, as well as the Rocky Mount area, and runs through Friday.
Division spokesman Tom Mather said the state's air quality monitors in Raleigh and Goldsboro were "just off the charts," reading nearly six times higher than the standard. The monitor closest to the fire is in Jamesville in Martin County. It maxed out a few days ago, but was reading just below the standard on Thursday.
The state generally issues such warnings only for metropolitan areas, Mather said. The comparably few people who live near the scene of the fire have experienced such conditions for days.
The state also issued a Code Orange for Fayetteville and the Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem area on Thursday and Friday. That warning suggests people with heart and respiratory ailments should avoid moderate outdoor exercise.
"As soon as I walked out the door (Thursday morning), I could smell it in my garage," said Mather, who lives in Raleigh and bikes 10 miles each way to work most days. "If it doesn't get better, I'll probably try to catch a ride (home) with somebody."
Residents of east-central North Carolina reported smelling the smoke even indoors, and Wake County officials said they received a higher-than-normal level of "smoke odor" calls to the Raleigh-Wake County 911 center. Mather suggested those bothered by the smell may want to spend as much time as possible in air-conditioned buildings.
The North Carolina wildfire has burned almost 40,000 acres - upward of 60 square miles - in and around the Pocosin Lakes Wildlife Refuge, and is only 40 percent contained. Without a massive rainstorm, firefighters can do little to extinguish the blaze and put an end to the smoky weather.
"You have 40,000 acres that are going to sit out there and smolder until we get a major event like a tropical depression," said Dean McAlister, a spokesman at the incident command center.
Firefighters plan to use N.C. 94 - a north-south road that runs east of the refuge - and nearby rural roads as control lines, since they can't get bulldozers and other equipment into the swamps where the fire is burning now.
"We want to get that done before the weekend, when the winds turn and would put sparks across our control line and, potentially, across Highway 94," McAlister said.
Emergency management officials in Hyde County warned of the potential for evacuations and recommended that residents gather important documents, medications and pet supplies in case they have to leave in a hurry.
Two patients at Pungo District Hospital in Belhaven, who are dependent on a mechanical respirator to breathe, were transferred to another hospital Wednesday, and the hospital was moving six others Thursday.
"Fire is not an issue, but the smoke has been thick at times," spokeswoman Jenny Brown said.
The remaining six to seven patients will stay at the hospital, which plans to stay open unless emergency management officials recommend otherwise, she said.
The National Weather Service issued a dense smoke advisory until midday Friday for more than 20 eastern North Carolina counties. Visibility could be reduced to one quarter of a mile in some areas.
Open burning is banned in Hyde, Tyrrell, Washington and Beaufort counties, where the fire is burning. That ban will be expanded Friday to Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Duplin, New Hanover and Pender counties.
A Virginia wildfire, sparked Monday when a piece of timbering equipment caught fire, has burned about 1,000 acres - about 1 1/2 square miles - in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge south of Lake Drummond near the North Carolina border.
Authorities said it is threatening the Atlantic white cedar restoration project, an effort to remove trees felled in 2003 by Hurricane Isabel, and enable seeds from surviving cedars to take root.
And in eastern South Carolina, authorities say a wildfire along U.S. 501 in Horry County threatened homes in a subdivision for a time. State Forestry Commission spokesman Scott Hawkins said the blaze was contained late Thursday afternoon after burning about 35 acres. South Carolina fire officials say they have been battling 10 to 15 small wildfires daily, slightly above normal for this time of year.
---

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Amazing how the MSM has concentrated on the California wildfires but have said little about this situation.

First I heard about it.

Is ELF active over there in NC? If so, we've had similar fire start with heavy equipment in logging areas.

We were visibly smokey yesterday with a burning smell in the air in Greensboro. They have our air quality for Friday at Orange and the Raleigh area is Red for Friday....

Wish some of the massive amounts of rain in the midwest would come south for you all. We don't need it up here in the NE. I would gladly share some with you.

Noticed this morning and on my in to work that the animals are all freaking out. At home our early morning squirrels have not shown up yet, neither have the normal little birds that breakfast around our feeders.

Closer to work, noticed several squirrels that seemed to be scurrying somehwere that they had not figured out to where. On my way in, all of the normal wildlife was either not to be seen or not acting normal.

Guess they are shifting into survival mode with the smell of smoke all around. Talked to GF at home and she has already shut up the house due to the smell and visible smoke.

We are about 250 miles west of the fire....

Firefighters make progress in NC wildfire

The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, N.C.
Firefighters battling a massive wildfire in eastern North Carolina hustled Saturday to take advantage of a shift in the winds near the blaze, which has been burning for almost two weeks and sending smoke into neighboring states.
Winds are now blowing lightly to the northeast, giving crews more time to work on containment lines for the fire, which has burned more than 41,000 acres, or more than 64 square miles, in and around the Pocosin Lakes Wildlife Refuge, said Dean McAlister, a spokesman at the incident command center for the fire.
Delaware officials say smoke from the North Carolina fire, as well as another wildfire along the North Carolina-Virginia line, has prompting calls from residents in southern Delaware and the Maryland Eastern Shore. No wildfires have been reported in Delaware, said State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Whitemarsh.
A wildfire in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, which straddles Virginia and North Carolina, prompted a smoke advisory Saturday for much of the Norfolk, Va. area.
Nearly 250 firefighters were attempting to contain the wind-fueled fire located primarily in the Virginia portion of the refuge. The fire, which started Monday, has burned 1,438 acres and wiped out parts of a project to restore Atlantic white cedar trees.
In North Carolina, officials announced the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a grant to pay 75 percent of the costs to fight the blaze. Fire officials estimate nearly $2.7 million has already been spent.
Firefighters are using existing roads and canals in the areas to act as fire breaks. One of the most important roads is N.C. Highway 94. If the fire jumps past the road, it would threaten a number of homes and structures and become much tougher to control, authorities said.
There also is farmland near the highway, which could cause the fire to rapidly spread. "Unharvested wheat in the fields is a tinderbox waiting to go off," McAlister said.
The weather should continue to help. Forecasters said the light winds should continue through Saturday, then thundershowers are possible Sunday, which could dump an inch of rain in the area. It wouldn't be enough to extinguish the blaze, but could buy crews even more time to build containment lines, McAlister said.
The shift in winds has the smoke from the fire drifting toward the Outer Banks and away from more heavily populated areas.
"The folks who came to the coast this weekend after dealing with all the smoke this week in Raleigh and Durham are having to deal with it on the beach too," McAlister said.
Areas north and east of the fire, including Edenton and Elizabeth City and the northern Outer Banks, remain under a Code Purple air quality warning through Sunday because of the smoke. It is the most severe air pollution warning the state has ever issued. It advises the elderly, children and those with some health problems to avoid all outdoor physical activity.
The fire started June 1 from lightning strikes on private land. The blaze has burned mostly refuge land. No significant injuries have been reported, and no structures have burned. The wildfire is about 40 percent contained.






http://www.fayobserver.com/article_ap?id=124411

http://www.fayobserver.com/article_ap?id=124409

18-wheeler kills deputy and firefighter in NC

The Associated Press
VERONA, N.C.

A tractor-trailer driving through blinding fog and smoke on a coastal highway in North Carolina struck a sheriff's deputy and a firefighter directing traffic early Saturday, killing them, authorities said.
The wreck happened around 5:15 a.m. Saturday near a controlled burn at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Onslow County along the central North Carolina coast, Highway Patrol Lt. Everett Clendenin said.
The truck had slowed because of the poor visibility when it struck deputy Steven Boehm, 36, and firefighter Gene Thomas, 52, Clendenin said.
"This loss is a great tragedy for everyone. These men served honorably," Sheriff's Capt. Rick Sutherland said.
A second deputy, Bill Hall, suffered minor injuries and was treated and released from the hospital, Sutherland said.
Troopers have charged 51-year-old truck driver Robert Kornegay of Fayetteville with two counts of misdemeanor death by vehicle and exceeding a safe speed. A magistrate released him Saturday on his own recognizance, Clendenin said. A phone listing for Kornegay could not be found. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.
Officials at Camp Lejeune, which surrounds the highway, called for help after smoke from a controlled burn on the base combined with fog to significantly reduce visibility, Sutherland said.
Several minor wrecks happened along the highway in the minutes before the deputy and firefighter were struck, Sutherland said.
Officials shut down the highway for several hours after the fatalities, but it has since reopened.
It was not immediately clear if the controlled burn had anything to do with a 62-square-mile wildfire burning about 100 miles away in northeastern North Carolina. Calls to officials at Camp Lejeune were not immediately returned Saturday.