06/13/2008

By MARTHA WAGGONER  / Associated Press

Smoke from a massive wildfire in eastern North Carolina was so intense Friday that state officials warned residents in the northeastern part of the state to limit their time outdoors.

The Code Purple warning for all areas east of Interstate 95 and north of U.S. 70 is the most severe air pollution warning the state has ever issued. It advises the elderly, children and those with some health problems to avoid all outdoor physical activity.

State Division of Air Quality director Keith Overcash said people living downwind of the 40,000-acre wildfire in and around the Pocosin Lakes Wildlife Refuge should stay inside and avoid physical exertion, especially if they're among one of the sensitive groups.

Overcash said the state decided to issue the warning after its air-quality monitors reported "some of the highest levels of particle pollution we have ever recorded." Air monitors in Washington and Belhaven recorded particle levels Friday that were 30 to 50 times higher than the normal readings.

Cities placed under the Code Purple warning were: Edenton, Elizabeth City, Greenville, Plymouth, Roanoke Rapids, Rocky Mount, Tarboro, Washington and Wilson. On Saturday, the warning covers areas north of the fire, including Edenton and Elizabeth City.

The state's warning only runs through Saturday, and officials said whether it persists will depend almost entirely on the wind.

"The big thing that will change this weekend is the direction of the wind," said Dean McAlister, a spokesman at the incident command center for the fire.

The blaze has remained 40 percent contained for several days. McAlister said firefighters expect it will continue to burn until the area gets enough rain to extinguish the fires smoldering in the peat soil.

"We can put in control lines, but what is going to make this fire go away is probably a tropical depression-type moisture event," he said. "We need something that puts numbers of inches of rain over several days on the soil."

After a cold front moves through, possibly as soon as Sunday, the smoke should head toward the east, near Duck, Nags Head and Manteo on the northern part of the Outer Banks, said Jeff Orrock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh.

The wildfire, which started June 1 with a lightning strike on privately owned land, has burned almost 40,000 acres — upward of 60 square miles — in and around the refuge. It remains only 40 percent contained.

So far, the fire has burned mostly refuge land. No significant injuries have been reported, and no structures have burned. But if it jumps over roads and containment lines, some structures could be threatened in the sparsely populated region surrounding the preserve.

Emergency management officials in Hyde County warned some residents Thursday to prepare to evacuate. An evacuation order for about 50 homes remained in effect from earlier in the week, although officials said many residents had since returned.

The fire has the potential to threaten up to 2,655 structures in Hyde, Washington and Tyrrell counties, said Julia Jarema, spokeswoman for the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. In Washington County, 911 structures, including 835 homes, are at risk. She was unsure of how many of the 1,319 structures in Hyde and 425 structures in Tyrrell were homes.