Re: OT/ N.C. Man is it hazy with smoke here in the midsection today

if hit aint hogslop, hits smoke... lordy sakes...
i didnt know you were a tarheel
JESL

"tiny dancer" <tinydancer357@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:T9b4k.3367$3F5.720@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Just went outside to get the mail in and the burning smell is very strong.
It looks real foggy out, but it's just smoke.
Wildfire smoke, odor reach Triangle


Posted: Jun. 11 10:40 p.m.
Updated: 23 minutes ago

Columbia, N.C. - State crews checked the air quality around an eastern
North Carolina wildfire, while forecasters said a wind shift could blow
smoke to Raleigh, Durham and Greensboro on Thursday.

WRAL viewers said smoke was creating haze and they could smell smoke in
downtown Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Henderson and Franklin County on
Thursday morning.

The National Weather Service confirmed their observations.

"Areas of smoke from a large wildfire over coastal North Carolina have
spread westward into portions of central North Carolina this morning," the
service's Raleigh office said in an advisory.

"County officials report that the smoke is not very dense but that the
smell of the smoke is very strong. The very young, the elderly and people
with respiratory difficulties should remain indoors as much as possible
through mid-morning, when the smoke is expected to thin out."

Smoke reduced visibility on roads around Goldsboro, Nashville, Rocky
Mount, Smithfield and Wilson to less than 2 miles, according to the
weather service.

Forecasters said lighter winds will allow conditions to worsen overnight,
and the smoky air could persist for days.

Air quality from Raleigh to Winston-Salem could be affected by smoke
carried by winds blowing to the southwest, Bill Swartley, a spokesman for
the State Forest Division, said in a statement.

Field observers said the fire had burned about 39,779 acres, or about 62
square miles, and was about 40 percent contained, Swartley said. The
figure was a revision of an earlier, slightly larger estimate Wednesday.

The North Carolina Division of Air Quality sent an assessment team to the
area to check air quality.

The agency issued a health notice for Thursday for areas west of the fire,
including Fayetteville and Raleigh, due to fine particle pollution from
the fire. The Code Orange warning means air quality is likely to be
unhealthy for sensitive groups.

Authorities have ordered the evacuation of 50 homes in Hyde County since
the fire began with a lightning strike June 1 in the Pocosin Lakes
National Wildlife Refuge, about 40 miles from the Atlantic coast.

The evacuated homes were near a wheat field ready for harvesting, fire
spokesman Dean McAlister said. He said Hyde County emergency management
officials have asked the field's owner to harvest the wheat, plow under
the stalks and burn any remaining debris to lessen the fire danger.

"The size of it is amazing," wheat farmer Martin Gelderman said. "We're
getting (the wheat) off in case there's any danger."

Rain fell on the fire Tuesday but was not enough to help for more than 24
hours. It has cost more than $1.7 million to fight the fire, not including
assistance from local and federal agencies.

Nearly 450 fire personnel, including crews from Harnett County, were
working the containment lines. A Wake County Emergency Medical Services
team was helping local dispatchers handle fire-related 911 calls.

Separately, a fire in the Virginia portion of the Great Dismal Swamp
National Wildlife Refuge was creeping toward North Carolina.

Refuge manager Chris Lowie told The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Va., that
a contractor's timbering equipment caught fire Monday afternoon. The fire
began at about 30 acres and had grown to about 500 acres.



http://wral.com/news/state/story/3030331/




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