Anybody seeing smoke?

[Croatan_Kid]

There's a several thousand acre forest fire not very far from my place. Any of yall seeing any smoke yet?!

The wind has been mostly pushing it north and west, so it's pretty clear here other than quite a bit of ash.

Hopefully it doesn't keep inching my way. I definitely don't want another 1994 situation!

 

[Croatan_Kid]

Latest updates:

 

[NickMaul]

I was wondering why the sky looked so damn hazy last night!

 

[Mac5005]

I could definitely smell it outside last night and there was nothing else nearby.

I looked and saw it on the map and said oh man

I originally thought it was the one near the dismal, but apparently that one is mostly contained and out now, despite being a mostly peat fire.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

They had a time with the one back in 1994. It'd burn down in to the ground in the root mat and pop up half a mile away. It took them months to get that one under control!

So far, this one doesn't seem to be much of a threat. Some small runs have gotten within a half mile or so of my house, but they've kept those knocked down.

 

[mommucked]

Maybe the rain that's headed there might help a little.

 

[rockcity]

We are seeing some smoke and ash in Greenville

 

[awheelterd]

Maybe the rain that's headed there might help a little.

If it holds together it should sure help. I got 1.25" in an hour. It was coming down pretty good

 

[skyhighZJ]

I sure hope it helps, Aberdeen, NC. got just under 2.75 today and by all means I hope some of it made it your way!!

 

[Loganwayne]

Man I've got buddies that work for the forest service. They'd rather be out west fighting 100ft flames than peat fires.

 

[mommucked]

They had a time with the one back in 1994. It'd burn down in to the ground in the root mat and pop up half a mile away. It took them months to get that one under control!

So far, this one doesn't seem to be much of a threat. Some small runs have gotten within a half mile or so of my house, but they've kept those knocked down.

I went to WCC/Goldsboro taking Fish & Wildlife when a fire burned up Holly Shelter 85/86?. After the fire died I and friends at school were taken down there to soak the peat that was burning under the ground. The first day we met w the NCFS guys at the depot in the HS and got schooled about fires under the ground and water pumps. We went way down into the woods and walked behind a bulldozer pulling a water tank and water pumps and hoses. The dozer would push the ground down about 3 or 5' as it moved and the ground would rise back up as we walked behind it. When we got to the burn it was miles of smoke and the small fires. A NCFS guy pulled a 20' rebar off the tanker and stuck it in the ground and shoved it down about 16' deep and pulled it out, the peat was that deep. We hooked up long hoses to the pumps and sprayed the fires and smoke holes all day. I got to drive a deuce tanker because I could drive/shift it. Running the deep sand roads I stuck it bad, another deuce and a winch pulled it out. We were there for 5 or 7 days and stayed at motel @ Burgaw. Good times I remember

 

[Croatan_Kid]

It rained pretty good towards James City area, not a whole lot at my house. I'm sure it helped. It definitely smells like it got on the fire.

They're still saying it's around 15% containment.

I also found these really cool pictures from a local guy named Mike Vaughn. These are at Catfish Lake when the fire came around the back side of it. Most of the orange glow is the reflection of the flames off the bottom of the smoke/clouds. There's not much undergrowth out there to burn that's over 10 or 15 feet tall (from previous fires and controlled burns) and the pictures were taken at a pretty good distance.

The first ones were taken 355 days apart in the same spot.

 

[kaiser715]

Good a place as any to drop this:

 

[Croatan_Kid]

It was a nice, bright, and sunny day. The wind changed again and the rain last night must have helped a little.

It's still around 36,000 acres, but some reinforcements showed up. The Southern Area Incident Management Team rolled in and they've got it around 30% contained. I saw no less than a dozen hauling units today. Apparently they mean business!

 

[Croatan_Kid]

The first one shows where they set some backfires to keep it from spreading farther north in to the Pollocksville and Brices Creek area. The second one shows the smoke blanket that blew across the county. The red dots are an approximate location of my domicile.

They got a better aerial look at it today and said it's more like 31,400 acres. It doesn't seem to be burning underground too bad this go 'round, which is good. No major threat to structures/homes as of yet. I think the goal is to contain it and let it die out. Luckily, plenty more rain is in the forecast for this week.

Still no definitive word on the cause, but I'm thinking either remnants of an earlier controlled burn OR lightning. We usually get pretty nasty storms when they blow in from the south and southwest and they can have some hellacious lightning.