The Virginian-Pilot
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As the big fire burns, Hampton Roads continues to feel the fallout, with smoldering peat in the Great Dismal Swamp providing a cover of foglike smoke since early this month.
Expect more this weekend.
Franklin, Suffolk and Williamsburg will be affected the most, Fire spokeswoman Deloras Freeman said, as winds will move up toward the south and the southeast.
Winds are expected to shift and push the smoke toward Suffolk, Isle of Wight and Surry Counties, highways 13, 58, 460, and adjacent secondary routes on Sunday, according to a news release. Near-zero visibility and very dense fog will occur from 4 a.m. through 9 a.m.
Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and northern Chesapeake will have low smoke impact. Thunderstoms are also possible Sunday.
The air quality forecast is expected to be unhealthy, according to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality's website.
The DEQ gave the area a red designation, which means the public may experience mild health effects. Sensitive people may have more serious health problems.
Air quality concerns have already plagued the region.
The Suffolk TGIF Summer Concert scheduled for Friday night at Bennett's Creek Park was canceled because of air quality concerns.
And on Thursday, superfog - a mixture of fog and smoke - from the fire causedwhite-out conditions in parts of Suffolk, as well as traffic issues across Hampton Roads. Similar conditions were reported this morning.
The blaze began Aug. 4 with a lightning strike. It has burned more than 6,000 acres and is only about 15 percent contained.
Work continues today to pump water from Lake Drummond in an effort to flood ditches and supress the fire.
Pilot writer Mike Hixenbaugh contributed to this report.
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stanks
Smells like a wet ph art to boot. i hate it
is it time for the federal government to send tankers?
Every year the Federal Government spends billions of our tax dollars paying for air tankers to fly and put out the fires out west. This out of control swamp fire is costing this area millions in health care cost and loss of revenue due to people not wanting to be in the smoke. It's time for this area to get something back for all the federal tax dollars we pay in. Bring a couple of the air tankers in and put this fire out.
it is natural for a bog to
it is natural for a bog to dry out during a drought. it is natural for areas to burn. it is not natural to 'manage' the water table . here is a good drought map. http://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-national-drought-conditions-map.php
Too late
The Great Dismal Swamp Refuge is already altered from its natural conditions. It is a fragment of the original swamp and has been surrounded by agricultural lands. Canals have altered the drainage and outflow. It has been artificially dried out.
Its too late to keep it in its pristine natural condition, and has been for 200 years.
The best that can be done is to restore it to something close to its original natural condition with active water control.
Keeping it as it is is not preserving a swamp, it is preserving a ruined swamp in its ruined condition when it could be fixed.
Please explain then
If you don't think it is a natural occurrence, then please explain the fire in the Alligator National Wildlife Refuge. Please explain the fires we've had in other swamps in the southeast. Are you going to try and say all those were the cause of 'mismanagement'? You may only be able to remember one such fire, but the National Interagency Fire Center has quite a few more on record. Talk to fire science people if you dare: you'll find out that areas can be perfectly find for DECADES then have drought conditions that change everything. Places that typically don't have fire problems can and will develop them in drought conditions. Those of us that have fought wildfires understand this only too well.
Alligator National Wildlife Refuge
I am not as familiar with Alligator River, but looking at areal maps it appears similarly surrounded by agricultural lands and ringed by roads, though I don't see any major outflow canals. Whether it became dry enough for a peat fire naturally or not, I cannot say.
Fires in the Great Dismal Swamp Refuge have occurred in 2 of the last 4 years. We have not been that consistently dry. If it had always been this dry, or had been so often, the peat would have all burned away by now. It takes at least a century to build up 8 feet of peat, we are burning off decades of accumulation every week. The fact that the peat is still there is proof the area has only been this dry recently, since the agricultural encroachment.
Unacceptable
This is not a natural occurrence, it is the result of mismanagement of the water table by the refuge personnel. It is gross negligence to allow a peat bog to dry out.
If this were private property, the EPA would be all over the owners with fines and mitigation requirements.
Its a swamp, it has to be kept wet. Proper water control structures could prevent most fires and allow the quick drowning of those which do occur.
If the Federal government will look the other way, the VA Dept of Environmental Quality should step in and protect citizens from this careless pollution.
Wrong
Have you even looked at how little rain the area has gotten over the past years? Do you realize the area has a rain deficit? Have you looked up and noticed the cobalt blue skies, something we typically never see in this area during the summer? Do you know what clear blue skies mean when it comes to fire fighting? Have you talked with any of the people fighting the fires or any of the people that live around the GDS, especially those that have lived there for more than 20 years?
If you did ANY of these, you'd understand that what we are dealing with here IS a natural occurrence and not some 'government plot' or 'mismanagement'. There was no 'allowing' the peat bog to dry out: if you don't have rain, they WILL dry out.
And yet
the other smaller swamps in the area, in Pungo and even right off Elbow Road south of Stumpy Lake have no such problem. They are wet as they should be.
The Great Dismal Swamp is not an intact system. It has not been since Washington and his consortium dug the first canal connecting the swamp to the NC sounds. Agriculture has encroached on its watershed reducing inflow even as the canals accelerate outflow. .
You are not defending a natural system. You are objecting to repairing a damaged one.
Time for Pat to come out of
Time for Pat to come out of the woodwork.
Need to steer a storm baby.
I've already been censored for saying as much.