Officials let fire burn on N.C. island

By Lena Warmack
The Charlotte Observer (N.C.)

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — A fire that started Tuesday on an island on Lake Norman is expected to burn for a few days, officials said.

Rangers from the N.C. Division of Forest Resources have been letting the fire burn on an 18-acre uninhabited island because it doesn't pose a threat to people or properties, said Brian Haines, a spokesman for the division in Raleigh.

Duke Energy owns the island, which sits in Lincoln County off McConnell Road and can be seen from southern Iredell County at the tip of the Brawley School Road peninsula in Mooresville.

The fire was reported around 7 p.m. Tuesday to the NCDFR district office in Mount Holly.

Wednesday, rangers torched the fire to help it burn faster and decrease the smoke.

Most of the smoke in the Charlotte and Lake Norman area is from controlled burning in South Carolina, not the island fire, Haines said.

While the cause of the fire hasn't been determined, some officials speculate that the fire may have started from an camp fire.

"It appears to have been caused by a camper or maybe fishermen on the lake," said Iredell County Ranger Dennis Floyd. Wildfires are common during the spring because of ideal weather conditions, he said.

Tim Gestwicki, deputy director for the nonprofit N.C. Wildlife Federation in Charlotte, said the island is primarily populated with birds such as woodpeckers, songbirds and wood ducks.

He said that while fires are illegal on the islands, Tuesday's did not hurt the island's tree canopy.

"The fire provided a necessary habitat burn," he said. "It will burn out some of the dead wood and allow for healthy vegetation to grow up."