Raging Wildfire at US Wildlife Refuge continues to grow.....
Pastor Dale Morgan
Raging Wildfire at US Wildlife Refuge continues to grow.....*
AP
COLUMBIA, N.C. - A wildfire that started on a wildlife refuge in rural
eastern North Carolina nearly tripled in size as it sent smoke and ash
as far away as the Outer Banks and neighboring Virginia on Thursday.
A wildfire in western Texas burned out of control most of the day and
wind gusts up to 40 mph were forecast overnight.
The North Carolina fire consumed more than 28,985 acres, or just over 45
square miles, of forest and fields at Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife
Refuge. About half the fire was burning on the refuge and about half was
on private land.
Officials have ordered the evacuation of 70 homes, including 40 on Thursday.
No homes have burned and nobody has been injured, although two
firefighters suffered heat exhaustion earlier in the week, said North
Carolina Forest Service spokesman Bill Swartley.
Swartley said Thursday night that firefighters had hoped to contain the
fire at an access road in the refuge but that it jumped containment
lines, giving it the potential to double in size again.
The fire was started by lightning Sunday at the wildlife refuge and
gradually spread during the week because of dry conditions and flammable
peat soil.
Earlier Thursday, smoke and ash filled the air in Manteo, about 45 miles
east of the fire, as well as in Chesapeake, Va., some 75 miles north of
the refuge, officials said.
The fire could last two months or more unless the area gets substantial
rainfall, said Tony Spencer of Hyde County Emergency Management.
In Texas, forest officials said a wildfire that has burned more than
31,000 acres in two days is far from being contained. It started when a
Union Pacific crew was working on railroad tracks west of Marfa in
western Texas.
The Forest Service said about 60 homes were in danger but none had been
damaged as of Thursday afternoon.
Union Pacific was working with state officials to make sure property
owners were compensated for any losses, railroad spokesman Joe Arbona said.
"We truly regret this," he said. "It was clearly not intentional but we
will definitely take care of folks out there."
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On the Net:
Pocosin Lake refuge: http://www.fws.gov/pocosinlakes
Pocosin Lakes refuge map: http://www.fws.gov/southeast/pubs/pocosin_map.pdf