Wildfire expands in Eastern N.C.

Blaze consumes 3,000 more acres

PONZER -- The wildfire burning through the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge claimed another 3,000 acres by Monday afternoon, extending a smoky haze toward the Outer Banks and pushing firefighters to combat its creep to the northeast.

The blaze -- the largest active wildfire now in the United States -- has burned more than 35,000 acres since a lightning strike June 1 ignited its smoldering march in Eastern North Carolina. In just 10 days, the fire has consumed more acres than the state usually loses to wildfires in an average year.

A state of emergency remains in effect for Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties, though the fire's progress did not keep some area farmers from continuing to work fields Monday along the same roads carrying firefighting crews to the head of the blaze.

No injuries have been reported, and no buildings have been destroyed.

Firefighters watched and waited Monday for the fire to inch toward the burnout line they set up along Seagoing Road. Crews on the ground used existing dirt roads to build fire lines and contain the fire where possible, with the help of helicopters and air tankers.

But the peat-filled soil and rugged terrain have hindered firefighters' efforts to navigate through scrub pines and attack the fire head-on.

Scotty Parks, an equipment operator for the N.C. Forest Service, said the ground is too soft to support bulldozers off the fire roads. And the agency's smaller pieces of earth-moving equipment are not rugged enough to burst through the scrub pines.

"It's a Catch-22," Parks said. "So now we're having to wait for it to get out to the roads to deal with it."

The state forest service estimated that more than $1.1 million has been spent battling the fire, not including costs incurred by local and federal agencies.

Firefighters have set containment lines around 40 percent of the fire, said Hannah Thompson, a spokeswoman with the Forest Service.

Dry conditions are challenging efforts to battle the blaze as it advances through shrubby swamp lands with plenty of vegetation and organic fuel in the soil to burn.

Smoke could linger

As firefighters continued to pump water from nearby Phelps Lake to help extinguish spot fires, area residents were told that smoke from the fire could linger for months.

Although no one was evacuated Monday from the nearby communities of Newland Township and Cross Landing, a contingency plan was put in place.

Along the southwest edge, firefighting crews began flooding blocks of timber to keep the fire from spreading in that direction.

"This part of the fire we've seen is subdued today," said Don Kuykendall, a Forest Service safety officer.

Ahead of the northeast perimeter of the leading edge of the fire, firefighters in a helicopter circling just above the treetops dropped golf-ball-size pellets that helped ignite a smoldering line of fire. The burnout operation aimed to eliminate brush, vegetation and other fuel for the fire.

As flakes of ash floated down through the clouds of smoke, the new line of fire prompted deer to bolt out of the cover of the pine trees, leap a canal and sprint to the smoky remnants of the refuge on the other side of the road. They were joined in their escape by a black bear, which took a couple of steps up the road before bolting in the opposite direction after spotting firefighters about 100 yards away.

Stretching for about 93,000 acres, the Pocosin Lakes refuge is home to the endangered red wolf, black bears, deer and hundreds of species of migratory birds.

Not every creature was swift enough to escape. The charred remains of a snapping turtle were found just a few steps away from a canal.

But the red wolves and many of the other animals living in the refuge were likely able to outpace the fire's progress, said Bonnie Strawser, a visitor services specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

7 bears in one yard

The animals were finding their ways into the yards of the refuge's human neighbors.

Strawser said she fielded at least a dozen calls Monday from area residents reporting the uncommon sight of a bear or some other refuge animal on their property. One woman called to say there were seven bears in her yard.

"She said, 'I'm scared to go to my mailbox,' and I said, 'So don't go to your mailbox,' " Strawser said.

"These animals are panicked, and they're not behaving normal. A person's front yard is not the type of habitat they're looking for. They're looking for places to escape the fire."

A cold front moving toward the area was expected to increase wind speeds today, National Weather Service meteorologist John Jacobson said. With the fire projected to continue spreading farther northeast into the refuge today, firefighters could be challenged by winds gusting up to 20 mph.

"If we get any strong storm with strong winds, that's a problem," Jacobson said.