By Jay Price
The News & Observer
Copyright 2007 The News and Observer
RALEIGH, N.C. — An obstinate fire smoldering an estimated 80 feet deep in the heart of a private “stump dump” could spread smoke to hundreds of Johnston County homes near the Wake County line for another week, a county official said.
The fire, which was first noticed Monday, is so deep in the landfill of stumps, trunks and branches that firefighters are struggling to get water to it, said Pat LaCarter, a spokesman for Johnston County.
Investigators think the fire was ignited simply by the heat produced as the wood decayed, LaCarter said.
It spread such thick smoke though the Riverwood golf course subdivision before dawn Tuesday that resident Kimberly Butler thought her house was on fire.
“It was so bad it woke me up about 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning, and I had to walk around the house to see if it was burning,” Butler said. “Then when we got up at 6:30, you couldn’t see the mailbox from the house, and that’s 50 feet.”
Several hundred homes in the subdivision and along Loop Road are affected, she said. Driving her son to Riverwood Elementary School, Butler had to creep along at 5 mph.
“People had on their hazards and their high beams,” she said.
She turned off the house’s heating system to stop the constant circulation of smoke, but it was too late to keep her family and everything in the house from reeking of smoke.
Later, Butler got another surprise: The phone rang, and the caller ID said “Emergency Services.”
“I was like, OK, I’ve never had a call from 911 before,” she said.
The reverse 911 call said that the smoke could continue for a couple of days and to avoid being outside for extended periods, or at all if you have a breathing problem. Butler said getting that basic information was terrific because she otherwise wouldn’t have known what was going on.
LaCarter, the county spokesman, said other residents weren’t so understanding.
“Some folks thought it was some sort of controlled burn, and they wanted to know why we didn’t tell them ahead of time,” he said. “This wasn’t controlled, though.”
He said that the smoke was bad Tuesday morning because fog helped hold it close to the ground. The same conditions could make the smoke bad again Tuesday night and this morning.
That is not what Butler wanted to hear.
“I’m dreading the evening,” she said. “I’m not going to put the dog out at night, it was that dangerous.”