Light winds today likely to help firefighters battle N.C. wildfire

COLUMBIA, N.C.

Light winds today should help firefighters battling a wildfire in eastern North Carolina after a slight increase in wind speeds helped fan the flames on Sunday, officials said.

Winds should continue to push smoke toward the northern Outer Banks and the Albermarle Sound then shift during the day slightly, Sarah Jamison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Morehead City, said this morning. Winds will shift again later this evening, pushing smoke back toward the sound.

The blaze has burned 32,556 acres, or about 51 square miles, slightly smaller than the city of Norfolk, said Hannah Thompson, a spokeswoman with the North Carolina Forest Service.  And officials project the fire will continue its march to the north and east. Thompson said the fire is about 40 percent contained.

The Forest Service estimated that the response to the fire has cost more than $1 million.

Winds increased slightly on Sunday after two days of calm that helped firefighters improve containment lines. Thompson said the area got a break when potential thunderstorms in the forecast, which could have further whipped the flames, failed to materialize.The National Weather Service said winds, which have been in the low single digits, may increase slightly but will stay below 10 mph over the next few days.

Dennis Wahlers, another forest service spokesman, said Sunday night was the first time officials set up nighttime operations to fight spot fires and monitor the blaze's perimeter.

 Gov. Mike Easley has declared a state of emergency in Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties. Nobody has been injured in the fire, and no buildings have been destroyed. But the fire has threatened about 80 homes and another 50 outbuildings, and workers have been actively laying down containment lines in case of continued expansion toward N.C. 94.

Officials have told residents in the area that smoke from the blaze could linger for months because the fire may smolder in the decayed vegetation that makes up the peat-filled soil. Firefighters are pumping water from nearby Phelps Lake to extinguish the ground fire in some areas.

The fire at the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, about 70 miles south of Norfolk, has already burned more acreage than the 10-year state average for all wildfires. Nearly 60,000 acres, or 93.7 square miles, across North Carolina have burned since January.

 Virginian-Pilot staff writers Richard Quinn and Cindy Clayton contributed to this report.