South 1 Fire Update 7/1/08 PM
Incident: South One Wildland Fire
Released: 7/1/2008
South One Fire Update
Fire Information (540) 295-0389
Hours of Operation: 0800-2000
Florida Interagency Incident Management Team
Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 8 p.m.
Current Status
The South One Fire is burning in fallen Atlantic White Cedar and logging slash remnants from Hurricane Isabel, on the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge 12 miles southeast of Suffolk, Virginia.
Acreage
4,307 acres
Containment
90 percent
Fire Cause
The fire started in the afternoon of Monday, June 9, when logging equipment caught fire.
Resources
There are 197 people on the fire, including 3 twenty-person hand crews. Equipment includes 11 engines, 5 bulldozers, 1 water tender, 1 Marsh Master, 1 Bombardier, 2 Geo Boy mowers, 2 Excavators, and 1 Harvester Saw. Two helicopters are supporting ground resources.
Participating Agencies & Cooperators
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Virginia State Department of Forestry, The Nature Conservancy, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources, Dismal Swamp State Park, Chesapeake Fire Rescue, Suffolk Fire Rescue and the Civil Air Patrol.
Restrictions and Closures
Lake Drummond is closed. Railroad Ditch, West Ditch, Interior Ditch and Corapeake Ditch Roads are closed to the public. The area of the Refuge south of Corapeake Ditch Road is also closed. The remainder of Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge remains open. All roads and trails in Dismal Swamp State Park are closed to the public; the Visitor Center remains open. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lake Drummond Reservation, part of the Canal, is closed to visitors. Contact the Corps at 757-201-7642 for more information. A temporary flight restriction is in effect up to 4,000 feet above the fire.
Today's Activities
&
Fire Behavior
Fire activity today was light to moderate throughout the burn area with continued smoldering and limited surface fire. The fire edge along west Ditch is cool and not posing a significant concern to firefighters. Fire activity along the southern Corapeake Ditch was also light. The most active area of the fire remains in the northern section, west of Lake Drummond, and north of Interior Ditch. Fire activity also picked up in the eastern section today along Riddick Ditch as muck and duff continue to burn. Firefighters in the northern section of the fire worked to improve water pumping operations from Lake Drummond into Interior Ditch. An excavator continued to remove fallen debris from the ditch in effort to increase water flow. Hand crews worked to clear brush and debris from the ditch and road. Sprinkler operations continued along the eastern Riddick Ditch. This section of the fire perimeter is a concern to firefighters because of the westerly component to the winds and the possibility of the fire spotting over into heavier fuel to the east. Crews continued to carefully monitor this line and the line along Corapeake Ditch to the south. Firefighters have been unable to free the piece of mowing equipment that has been stuck in the muck since June 27th. These extrication operations will continue tomorrow.Helicopters worked to support ground crews with bucket drops again today.Major concerns include falling trees, the burning of unconsumed vegetation in areas that have already burned, and smoke.
Fire Weather
Tomorrow's temperatures are forecasted to be in the high 80's with winds from the west gusting 4-14 mph, and relative humidity at 33%.
Smoke
Smoke will continue to impact areas downwind of the fire. Residents and travelers should use extra caution when traveling through smoke.
Other Fire Information
Suffolk Saturday bus tours of the refuge are cancelled until further notice. On the Refuge, Jericho Ditch, Washington Ditch, and Portsmouth Ditch roads are open to the public. Speed limit on Desert Road near Refuge headquarters has been reduced to 35 mph due to heavy fire traffic. Further information on the Great Dismal Swamp can be found at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/greatdismalswamp/; more fire information at http://www.inciweb.org/
