The Southern Area Red Team joined the U.S. Forest Service and N.C. Forest Service last night. As a unified command, they announced in a press release tonight, the fire is “32,400 acres in size and 30% contained. More accurate acreage data was obtained based on flight reconnaissance measurements.”
They also noted, “Road closures related to the wildfire can be found by searching under Craven County on DriveNC.gov.”
Providing a weather update, they relayed, “Today’s weather stayed mostly cloudy with sparse rain scattered throughout the day. Cooler temperatures and light winds supported mild fire behavior, however some areas in the interior continue to smolder.”
They stated, “The eastern perimeter of the fire will be patrolled and monitored with engines and helicopters. There is a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) in place over the fire area, information can be found at Federal Aviation Administration website.”
In conversation with the unified command, New Bern Now learned liaison officers began talking with key members of nearby communities and distributed information related to the Great Lakes fire this afternoon.
This morning, Operations Section Chief Shawn Nagle of the Southern Area Interagency Red Incident Management Team gave a briefing on the current situation and planned operations.
He said most of their containment was on the east side of the fire, pointing to an area a few miles west of highway 70.
Referring to the north part of the fire, he said they were going to work to, “secure a lot of the fireline in that area. There are residential areas up here that we’re keenly aware of and we want to make sure they are protected for the coming days.” Nagle was referring to communities located a few miles away like Perrytown, Brices Creek, Bluewater Rise, Carolina Colours, and others. *
He addressed the west part of the fire stating, “there are some Weyerhauser timberlands, and we certainly want to protect those areas at risk.”
Nagle noted the coming days will be warmer and people may see smoke; the unified command is well aware. He said there was a chance of rain on Wednesday which would be good for operations.
Committing to the community, he said, “We will be here for as long as it’s takes to make sure the community is safe.
Lastly, Nagle asked people to avoid the closed area for everyone’s safety and not to remove barricades.
Visit Inciweb: Ncncf Great Lakes Information | InciWeb for detailed information about their current operations and follow the U.S. Forest Service – National Forest in North Carolina’s Facebook page.
Editor’s note: Refer to the map to see if your home is nearby and contact the unified command with questions at 252-285-6174 or via email.
By Wendy Card, co-editor. Send an email with questions or comments.