By Ryan Hutchins
Winds are predicted to blow smoke from two major forest fires through Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
A cold front may bring some rain this morning and afternoon, said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the service's Wakefield office. A quarter to a full inch of precipitation is possible.
Sunday is even more likely to be dampened by some rain.
But the rain is not likely to provide lasting relief.
It would take significant rainfall to extinguish t he fires burning in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and in a rural, three-county area 50 miles west of the Outer Banks.
Wayne Johnson, a spokesman with the U.S. Forest Service, said it would take about 6 inches of rain in a three-day period or 10 inches over seven days to put out the blaze in the Dismal Swamp.
That fire is likely to produce most of the smoke that will be seen in Hampton Roads this weekend.
The problem is the thick, combustible peat soil on the floor of the swamp that is 3 feet deep in places, Johnson said.
"It's going to take an awful lot of rain because you've got to soak all the way through that."
To help, workers are installing two high-velocity pumps that can put out 14,000 gallons of water a minute. Another pump is on standby, Johnson said.
It's even worse for the 64-square-mile North Carolina fire, which is mostly contained. Dean McAlister, a spokesman from the incident command center, said the peat in that area can be as deep as 12 feet.
He said a continuous, soaking rainfall - such as from a hurricane or tropical storm - could stymie the blaze. "The peat isn't unlimited in depth, and there's a water table down there somewhere," McAlister said.
The wet from the weekend may help clear some of the smoke from the air, however.
Meteorologist Sarah Jamison of the Morehead City office said moisture in the atmosphere should at least lessen the hazy conditions.
Staff writers Dave Forster and Stephanie Lee contributed to this report.
Ryan Hutchins, (252) 441-1627, ryan.hutchins@pilotonline.com
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Formula to put out the fires
Get all the fraternity members from ODU. Bring them to the edge of the fire. Hand each one of them a 6 pack of Milwaukee's Best. Wait 30 minutes.
Fire out, problem solved.
Where do I pick up my consulting check?
Smoke
Considering how much of the smoke is reaching up here in norther Accomack Cty, I can only imagine what all you folks in Hampton Roads are putting up with.
Until we get some steady, sustained rain - not these freak downpour storms - there is not much more the firefighters can do, but what they are doing.
Remember folks, you can't fight Mother Nature.
Another thought
As for the Dismal Swamp fire, Lake Drummond is a huge lake, not too far from the fire and needs to be used. The Dismal Swamp Canal is not too far from the fire and needs to be used. And the word Swamp itself that means low lying wet area. Really it doesn't matter if it's a health hazard per se, junk science versus real science, it is very dangerous to have to drive through and I think if I were a tourist, I would not come and/or stay. And if I hear one more TV reporter say oh don't worry today, the smoke is drifting to NC I think I'll lose it. The folks from NC don't want this mess, it's VA's mess, and they need to fix it now. Wishing it away won't help and won't work, they need to be pro-active and get it done with now.
Amazing I haven't seen a
Amazing I haven't seen a peep out of Kate about these noxious fumes permeating our state...especially when she was so dead set against smokers and blasming them for all our ills from their smoking..
Now we can see that there is more deadly things in the air than a smoker and a cigarett. As the good gentleman says...why isn't anyone screaming about banning this smoke from crossing our state lines?? (being fecetious here). It is affecting many with sensitivities to air qualities..
As my son from Carolina says..they have every man out there doing double shifts trying to get this thing corralled so it would burn itself out but the winds and dry weather have been against them this entire time..he is a firefighter...
The smoke is no major health concern
But yes, it does stink terribly. If you have respiratory problems, it can be harmful. If it irritates you, see your doctor. People out west who are used to dealing with forest fires have breathed the stuff for years without ill affects. Breathing car exhaust fumes in the cities day after day are by far worse. If you look at how large these areas are it is easy to see why they can't be flooded overnight. I do not doubt the firefighters are doing everything they can.
FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL
Remeber the story looking at the cause and how it grew out of control with workers present was buried pretty fast by all media outlets. First ask yourself where did the Helos come from as well as the folks that operate all that support equipment in both NC and VA. I know we tend to have a short memory, but it wasn't too long ago several Fire Captains were convicted of actually setting forest fires over several years in NY. This sounds horrible, but follow the money trail! Besides, what is there to lose in a swamp? We're getting the smoke anyway, just surround the inhabitant areas and keep them safe.
Oh yeah, I think those the local Sailors boys would have had this out between beers by now.
I am absolutely sick of the smoke,
it stinks terribly.
I am concerned over the comments about being upset with the firefighters or government over the smoke. My understanding is the Pocosin Lakes fire is over a bed of peat about 20 feet deep. I would think the Dismal Swamp is full of peat too. The firefighters have a tremendous job on their hands. We are in low water conditions to add to the problem. It's a shame some of the flood waters of the Mississippi can't be diverted directly to the fire.
"Where there's smoke,
"Where there's smoke, there's fire".
The only intelligent statement that came from the previous post.
There are plenty of dry....
places in this big country where water is regularly pumped for many MILES to irrigate arid land for farmers. If the local firefighters can't or won't pump in the needed water (the whole area is surrounded with water, hence the name "Chesapeake"), then hire some irrigation engineers mighty quickly to douse the fires. Where there's smoke, there's fire.
Then I'd do an investigation as to why the Govt. was so inept at tackling this major health concern. How can you pay good money for these folks to sit around, and then when a real problem comes along, they want "mother nature" to do the job. These folks do get credit for "containing" the fire, but the job calls for PUTTING OUT the source of the smoke. They get failing grades for that....weeks are too long to wait.
here we go
Seems to me that the fire is in a swamp. The swamp is dry and is why it was easily ignited. Being that swamps are in the middle of nowhere, WHERE DO YOU PROPOSE THEY PUMP THE WATER FROM!?! When you don't have a water supply all you can do is CONTAIN the fire by getting ahead of it and clear the area of combustible fuel by bulldozing or trenching. It's still going to burn until it runs out of fuel, but it will not spread. On solid ground this is less challenging, but in a swamp things are much more difficult. No sense in trucking water in at such a high cost because there isn't any property or life in danger. Localities cannot just ask local military for help and get it. It takes an order from the Governor just to get the National Guard on scene. Without proper fire training, hand tools, or saftey gear like wildfire suits, it would make no sense to transport and pay these folks or any other military service to do nothing.
The smoke is here so get over it. Don't like the job that's being done? Go down to the Dismal Swamp and tell them YOUR plan on how to put it out since you are much more qualified in firefighting and logistics.
Environmental Health Issues !
My eyes have been burning for (3) days & NO amount of Medicine will cure my symptoms. I've put tea bags on my eyes to reduce the burning and it works but for (3) days?! C'mon Dept. of Forestry GET THE HELO's in the air and start DUMPING water on the problem areas! That's what our TAX dollar$ are paying for. How long are you going to let the forrest burn and produce annoying smoke for weeks/months before you do anything about this? We're not going to get the rainfall you're "hoping" for so GET OUT THERE and DOUSE the hell out of those burning fires by Helo's and keep the pumps on the NEW areas that are not caught on fire to prevent them from burning. After awhile, the NEW (wet) areas won't catch on fire and the already buring pete will have no NEW places to burn. Put up the wall of water coming from the areas it's trying to go to within about 1/2 mile to allow the pete to be drenched before the fires get to it. Drill holes & douse it with water to suffocate the problem areas.
Unless you have respiratory problems . . .
the smoke from these fires won't harm you. It stinks bad, cuts down on visibility, but it is less harmful than the car exhaust fumes people breath every day around here. Why they haven't made greater efforts to start flooding these areas earlier is the real question. Someone should remind our great city leaders that all this smoke is discouraging to the tourists. THAT would get some action out of them . . .
BLAME THE PRESIDENT
Chris, we should all ban together and claim government conspiracy, after all this has to be President Bush's fault somehow right? If a Democrat wins the election who will we blame for our troubles?
Firefighting Effort versus Reality
Firefighters are doing all they can to CONTAIN the fire; in other words, to keep it from spreading. But this is a peat fire. It is going to take a lot more water than firefighters can pour onto it. It is going to take 6 or more inches of rain such as a tropical system to put this fire out. Peat is underground composted materials created by decaying plant material such as trees, brush & plants. This decaying of materials has been taking place in the swamp for thousands of years. In many places the peat can be as deep as six feet or even more & the fire can burn just as deep. Until the heavy rain comes, we will continue to endure the smoke.
The Fires....
Should have been put out weeks ago. Our family of seven will be CANCELLING our planned vacation to the VB waterfront, because we don't want to poison our bodies by breathing in the polluted air.
Look at all the money VB lost...hotels, restaurants, attractions not being used if folks like me really know the dangerous air conditions. I certainly do, because I came down from DC area on Mon., June 16, and turned right around and went back when my eyes were burning.
I too cannot understand why many large pumps were not used to even get salt water if necessary to put out the stink. The whole area deserves to have their entire tourist season LOST because the powers-that-be would not take aggressive action to correct a REAL HEALTH HAZARD for all residents.
Fotunately for me and my Family, we do not HAVE to be there....and we definitely won't be there until all the fire has been put out.
Time to invest in...
.... old games like Monopoly, cards and other games while we are kept inside during the noxious smoke smell. Sometimes I think my house is on fire because the smoke is so strong. I actually woke up one morning thinking just that.
As for comment about Norfolk passing laws to keep out the smoke smell, I laughed.. good one :)
As hard as we try doc...
...we will never be able to get teh government monkey off most people's backs...
Bring in Federal Firefighters
Why are these fires still burning? Why haven't federal firefighters been requested? The fire in North Carolina has been burning for weeks, and the Dismal Swamp fire should have been extinguished by now. I've been out west where they experience much larger fires than the ones here. Those fires are extinguished by federal smoke jumpers within days, and they are working in the mountains. Why haven't our local elected officials demanded more assistance from the feds? The Dismal Swamp is a national wildlife refuge and much of the North Carolina fire is on federal property, too. I'm not criticizing the guys that are fighting the fires, but it seems that a lot more people need to be involved here. Let's get enough people on this thing to get the job done. Of course, our elected officials are no where to be found on this issue. Somebody needs to get the ball rolling.
Simple Solution
The Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Norfolk City Councils should pass an ordinance banning noxious smoke from entering the cities.
They seem to think they can pass laws contrary to the laws of economics and expect that to work, so why not the laws of nature as well?
People in this area are such
People in this area are such sheep. We have a major health problem going on, and no one demands action from the government.
I don't mean to be ungrateful for all the hard work of the
Forestry folks and the firefighters working the Dismal Swamp fire, I know they have a tough job, however, I find it to be absolutely incredible that they are just now getting around to bringing in pumps (and small ones at that) in an attempt to flood the Dismal Swamp fire. What have they been waiting on and what have they been doing? I don't understand how in North Carolina after 2 weeks a 40,000 acre fire was 70% contained and in Virginia a 2,000 acre fire after 2 weeks is only 20% contained. I don't understand why it has taken this long to start doing something pro-active. If the locals couldn't handle the fire, why haven't they called on the Navy, Coast Guard or even the Native American firefighters begging for their help. The air quality in Hampton Roads in the summer is horrible to begin with, then add in the lingering, constant acrid vile smell of smoke and the ever drifting dangerous smoke bank that has permeated and continues to waft over the area and Hampton Roads this summer is absolutely disgusting. It's past time to get it done.