Pains Bay Fire Continues | Eastern North Carolina Now

    The Pains Bay Fire was reported on the afternoon of Thursday, May 5, 2011 and was caused by lightning. It is burning on Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and the Dare County Range (Dept. of Defense, ASAF) in Dare County, NC. Fuels are chaparral pocosin growing on organic peat soil up to 8 feet deep. Early, fast spread of the fire was caused by low relative humidity and high winds. For several days, the perimeter of the fire has been stationary. Ground fire burning in deep peat continues to hamper containment efforts.

    A possible threat still exists to the Stumpy Point community. Conditions are being monitored and the need for evacuation is being assessed on a continuous basis. US 264, between Stumpy Point and Engelhard, has been closed intermittently since the fire began due to smoke and firefighter activity. Heavy smoke from smoldering peat continues to effect surrounding communities and areas as far as Raleigh, NC and Norfolk, VA.

    Containment efforts focus on delivering large volumes of water via volume lift pumps and irrigation systems to critical areas of ground fire.

    Containment of the fire has been slowly increasing, although it still holds a potential threat of growing, yet again. In little over a month, the Pains Bay fire has gone from 80% contained and having effected 25,678 acres to now being 95% contained and has almost doubled, currently covering 45,294 acres. There are 193 total personnel helping to keep the situation under control, at least 6" of rain is needed in order for there to no longer be a threat. Inci (Incident Information System) has declaired that the main fuel involved that is keeping the fire alive is 4 Chaparral (6 Feet) Pocosin with intermixed Pond Pine. Some active surface fire was observed today on Division Lima well interior of the control line. Smoldering creeping ground fire was the observed on othe portions of the fire. Ground fire continues to produce smoke emmissions.Rainbird irrigating systems were moved around the fire perimeter to wet hot spots along the line. Flooding operations with high volume lift pumps continued according to the Water Handling Plan. Work continued on the mulched contingency line to the north of Division N. Pumping operations will continue along the fire perimeter to maintain control lines. These pumping operations will shift around the fire perimeter to address hot spots. Mulching operations will continue to the north of Division N to build contingency lines. There is a medium growth potential and there is a high terrain difficulty. Over 500 million gallons of water are being moved daily to the fire perimeter, which there's an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 acres of ground fire within that perimeter.

    Read our article, covering the beginning stages of the Pains Bay Fire and how the smoke has been stretching across North Carolina.

    Also, to keep informed of the status of this incident and others in North Carolina and across the U.S. visit www.inciweb.org.