Evans Road Fire
Location: 15 miles NW of Fairfield and 7 miles S of Creswell in Hyde, Tyrrell, and Washington Counties, NC
Specific Location: Western Road, Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge
Date of Origin: 06/01/2008 at 120 hrs.
Cause Lightning
Situation as of 06/17/08
Total Personnel 465
Size 41,060 acres
Percent Contained 60%
The fire continues to progress further to the North and East and into Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Smoldering fire in deep peat soils.
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Situation as of 06/10/08
Total Personnel 351
Size 40,195 acres
Percent Contained 40%
Evacuation of Waterway Landing and upper New Lake Rd area repeated due to fire advancement across some local trigger points and change in weather. Multiple local and mutual aid fire units are on scene along with N. C. Division of Forest Resources. Extremely smoky conditions have also now set in the entire Ponzer area. Visibility is greatly reduced. The Belhaven Fire Station remains open as a sheltering location for any displaced persons.
Most of the 4,504-acre increase in the fire’s size has occurred since this morning. The fire continues advancing further north and east within the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. At its current rate of spread, the fire should reach the northeastern boundary of the Refuge within the next 12 hours.
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Situation as of 06/07/08
Total Personnel: 210
Size: 30,809 acres
Percent Contained 40%
Fire Behavior: Short runs with torching and short range spotting observed. Smoldering ground fire in deep organic soils. Growth potential extreme.
Fire followed up the significant run yesterday evening with another major run today toward the E-NE. A voluntary evacuation was issued in and around the Cross Landing and New Lands Community.
Current Wind Conditions: 5 mph W
Current Temperature: 101 degrees
Current Humidity: 40 %
Summary from InciWeb: The Evans Road Fire started on June 1 approximately 15 miles NW of Fairfield in the New Lake vicinity in eastern North Carolina. The fire resulted from a lightning strike. On the afternoon of June 3, the fire broke from containment, running 3,000 acres onto Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. By late evening, the blaze had grown to approximately 8,000 acres. Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge is approximately 93,000-acres and is home to the endangered red wolf, black bear, hundreds of species of migratory birds, and a variety of other native wildlife. The refuge is a popular attraction for birders, wildlife photographers, as well as being a good hunting and fishing hot spot.
Windy weather and a limited water supply have complicated suppression efforts for firefighters. The fire is primarily burning in shrubby swamp lands which are very difficult to suppress in dry conditions due to the explosive fire movement through the shrubs and the large amounts of organic vegetation in the soil available to burn. The fire will likely linger for weeks in the soil until significant rainfall floods the swamp.
On June 4, a Type 2 Incident Management Team from the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources arrived to manage the fire. An incident command post was established in Ponser, NC. The incident is being jointly managed by the agencies involved at 6pm on June 4, the fire was considered to be 30% contained and had grown to over 13,000 acres. On June 5, winds weakened a bit and direction was extremely variable. By late afternoon, the fire was recorded as over 20,000 acres, with about half being on refuge land and half being on state/private land.
At 6 pm on June 5, the fire had grown to almost 30,000 acres. It had jumped Western Road and continued to head east-northeast. Fortunately, the winds continued to abate, slowing the forward movement of the fire and continued to have shifting directions, slowing the increase in acreage. Evacuation included 75 residences and 20 outbuilding/other.
June 6, acreage was at 29,970, still at 30% contained, with 186 people, 25 tractor/plows, two flex-tracks, 2 helicopters, 8 engines, and 1 air tanker working the fire.
