By staff and wire reports
COLUMBIA, N.C
Firefighters are planning to burn harvested wheat fields in rural eastern North Carolina to help control a wildfire that has burned more than 40,000 acres.
State Forest Division spokesman Bill Swartley said today the fields could provide fuel for the fire, which is burning in and around the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.
Swartley said the largest concern for firefighters will be wind shifts, and they want to make sure the wheat fields won't help the fire spread if it swings toward firefighters. He said the fire could run three miles in an hour across the wheat stubble.
An evacuation order remains in effect for homes in a Hyde County subdivision. Swartley said some residents haven't left.
The fire is about 40 percent contained.
Smoke from the wildfire grew so thick in Hampton Roads on Tuesday night that 911 dispatchers were deluged with calls from residents reporting fire in their neighborhoods.
Dispatch centers in Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach answered calls from worried residents who noticed the smoke and smelled its strong odor. In Norfolk, firefighters were so busy they reduced the number of trucks they sent to fire calls.
The wildfire, which has burned for more than a week, has grown to 40,195 acres, or nearly 63 square miles – larger than the city of Richmond.
James Foster, a meterologist with the National Weather Service office in Wakefield, said that a cold front headed toward Hampton Roads made the winds shift north and pushed the heavy smoke into the region.
In Portsmouth, a thick haze of smoke settled around the downtown area shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday, the 911 center said.
“Smoke conditions and the smell of smoke is getting strong in the Norfolk area,” Norfolk Fire-Rescue spokesman Jack Goldhorn said shortly after 8 p.m. “We are getting a high number of calls from residents in regards to the smell of fire.”
People reported smelling grass, rubbish or vinyl burning, he said. Norfolk got 15 to 20 calls between 6:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Suffolk got about 25 calls, police Lt. Debbie George said.
A spokeswoman for Sentara hospitals said there were no reports of emergency room visits in Hampton Roads for breathing difficulties.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality said the air quality index in Hampton Roads would be code yellow today, an improvement over Tuesday’s code orange. Under the orange status, the air can be unhealthy for certain people to breathe.
As relief from the heat comes today, winds will shift, likely changing the direction of the wildfire’s spread and possibly clearing smoke from the air in Hampton Roads, Elizabeth City and other communities north and west of the Albemarle Sound and the Outer Banks by evening. The fire is in a rural, three-county area about 50 miles west of the Outer Banks.
The smoke may return by Friday, said Casey Dail, a meteorologist at the weather service’s office in Morehead City, N.C. “But that’s pretty far out. I don’t want to speculate.”
The Associated Press and Virginian-Pilot reporters Ryan Hutchins and Patrick Wilson contributed to this story.
Ryan Hutchins, (252) 441-1627, ryan.hutchins@pilotonline.com
Patrick Wilson, (757) 446-2957, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com
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So amusing . . .
We have a lightning caused fire and everyone from the U.S. Navy to Al Gore gets blamed or mentioned. People should be thankful the fire is in an isolated area and not closer to homes or businesses. Lesson folks: when you have a wildfire, you end up with smoke. Typically such smoke is not at all harmful but it can be to those with breathing difficulties - that is what doctors warn people about. The real people who are suffering are the fire fighters having to deal with all the heat and smoke. As for the animals, with a slow moving fire such as this one, they'll get out of the way on their own. I fought forest fires in the Pacific NW a number of times: these flat land bog fires are miserable things to try and put out since they can burn under ground and the terrible stench from them. You can bet it's going to be awhile before they get these fires out.
firefighters sick leave
It's a crisis like this that we should remember the benefits that the firefighters deserve....
global warming
Call Al Gore! I cannot even imagine the carbon footprint of this fire. I also hear they are now banning camp fires in Washington State to help combat global warming.
pity....
the animals who lived where these fires are. Man will eventually obliterate wildlife either through over-development or fires.
re: Idiots
I hope your mirror is working, squirrelly.
A spokeswoman for Sentara hospitals said there were no reports of emergency room visits in Hampton Roads for breathing difficulties.
That was the only mention of breathing difficulties. People calling 911 were the idiots. Every news outlet and the NWS were reporting the smoke would get bad, possible reducing visibilities to under a mile.
Now, as to your reading comprehension...
Build more!
If only they would build more homes, strip malls, etc., in that aream then there would be less forest and less to burn!
Idiots
It's funny, but the people who are complaining about people calling 911, and basically calling them idiots, should stop and look in the mirror. The media has already stated that most of the people calling 911 are those who are suffering from health conditions, such as asthma, and are having to call 911 because of the fact that they can't breath or are in desperate need of medical attention.
Some people
I am so shocked people called 9-11?? Everyone knew about the fire in NC, and to call 9-11, how sad!! Wake up listen to the news and stop crying wolf! I hope a real emergency wasnt left while dealing with some drama queens!
I woke up last night yelling
I woke up last night yelling at the wife that the house was on fire. I cant believe how much smoke was in my house. Luckily she was a bit more level head then I was last night.
Skoops
I think they will have plenty of reasons not to locate here. They better bring their...I mean, your wallet with them if they try.
Ira
Looks like a perfect cover up for the Navy to clear out the area to build the runway. Better hope the birds and mussels come back or they will have no reason not to build there.
Zinger from dr
"Nah!
Submitted by dr87448 on Wed, 06/04/2008 at 7:07 pm.
Did the Navy drop another Training Bomb?????
Submitted by johnh31265 on Wed, 06/04/2008 at 11:41 am.
How did the fire start? Was it another Navy Practice Bomb?????
Nah...was hoping for thye real thing, burn you idiots out so the navy can build their field......."
Don't forget this zinger that dr provided when the fire first began.
Yea
I thought the same thing. How out of touch with current events does one need to be? Smoke has been drifting in and out of tidewater for several weeks. It's all over the media. Wonder why "taking action 3" didn't interrupt evening television to broadcast a smoke alert?
Then you get people wasting emergency responder time/money because they "smell" smoke? I sure wish we could bill those bozos for their inept random calling of 911. Or maybe they just like seeing fire trucks screaming up and down their streets.
Portsmouth was smoky before 9pm
911 says the smoke settled in downtown P-town around 9pm, but having driven through there at 8:30 I can tell you it was earlier than that. Started seeing and smelling it in Greenbrier/Chesapeake around 7:45, and it only got worse the closer I got to Portsmouth. It was already clearing by 10pm, and this morning at 6:30 I didn't notice any. Either this article is being really conservative in the times reported or the reporters working overnight and didn't go outside.
Just who are these people who called 911?
Have they been living under a rock for the past week? It's this kind of stupidity that ties up emergency lines - potentially keeping a dispatcher from dealing with a real emergency.
Smoke from the fire
It was so bad yesterday, that it reminded me of living in LA during a smog alert! I agree with the first poster...hopefully the rain will clear it out and hopefully it will rain down in NC where the fire is. More power to those firefighters!
What happend to the rain??
Uhm thought we were supposed to get rain to help kill it off Im inside of a building near greenbrier and WOW I live near carolina line this should be fun in the morning with the kids
Deep Creek Area
At 9:07 pm the Deep Creek Area of Chesapeake was intolerable from the smoke in the air. Let's hope this passes quick.
PHEW!!
I hope it goes fast! I started cooking my burgers with lump charcoal and apple chunks to smell the peat'y irritant of the fires down south.
Let's hope for a torrential downpour tonight over the affected areas...