South 1 Fire Update 7/12/08 AM
Incident: South One Wildland Fire
Released: 7/12/2008
South One Fire Update
Fire Information (540) 295-0389
Hours of Operation: 0800-2000
Florida Interagency Incident Management Gold Team
Saturday, July 12, 2008, 10 a.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
4,664 acres
Containment
95 percent
Fire Cause
The fire started in the afternoon of Monday, June 9, when logging equipment caught fire.
Resources
There are 157 people on the fire, including 1 twenty-person hand crew
Equipment includes: 7 engines, 2 bulldozers, 1 Marsh Master, 1 Bombardier, 2 Excavators,
1 Harvester Saw, 1 Geoboy, and 1 helicopter
Today's Activities
&
Fire Behavior
Fire activity should remain light today and through tomorrow. The fire continues to smolder underground due to the deep pockets of peat burning in the fire interior. Areas of concern include the northernmost section, north of Interior Ditch and a large interior pocket south of the ditch. With continued drying, fire behavior will begin to increase in these areas, producing more smoke. After several days of drying, ground fires burning in the peat could again begin to burn on the surface producing open flame. During yesterday's aerial reconnaissance flight, several areas of standing water were observed. However, without further rain, these will dry out and begin to smolder again. Firefighters are continuing work to flood the fire perimeter with water from Lake Drummond and to patrol and mop up along the entire fire edge. Crews hope to increase the containment of the fire this week and prevent any additional fire spread. Weather conditions, however, will be a major factor in keeping the fire from actively burning again. The Florida Interagency Incident Management Gold Team transitioned with a locally managed organization yesterday. This organization will assume command of the fire today at noon.
Participating Agencies & Cooperators
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Virginia State Department of Forestry, Florida Division 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
Portions of the Refuge are closed to the public including: Lake Drummond, Railroad Ditch, West Ditch, Interior Ditch and Corapeake Ditch Roads. The area of the Refuge south of Corapeake Ditch Road is also closed. Washington Ditch and Jericho Ditch are open. The Dismal Swamp State Park has opened a portion of the Canal Trail, from the Visitor's Center to Kim Saunders Road. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Lake Drummond Reservation part of the Canal, is closed to visitors. Contact the Corps at 757-201-7642 for more information.
TFR: The temporary flight restriction over the South One Fire has been lifted. In the interest of safety, any aircraft wishing to fly into the fire area is urged to notify "Air Attack" on radio frequency 136.400 at 12 miles out. Aircraft pilots can also call ahead and notify Air Operations at (804)249-0919.
Fire Weather
Today's maximum temperature will be 89 degrees with winds from the east at 6-9 mph, with gusts up to 15 mph and minimum relative humidity at 40%.
Smoke
A mixture of smoke and fog in the fire area could cause visibility issues in the evenings and mornings. Drivers are urged to be extremely cautious and travel with their low beam lights on.
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 is 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/
