By Dave Forster
SUFFOLK, Va. — The Virginian-Pilot
Sometimes all it takes is a gentle breeze.
Then, without a crack or a snap to announce its arrival, a tree crashes to the swamp floor.
Falling trees have become one of the biggest hazards facing firefighters in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, officials said Thursday. The swamp’s deep organic soil is burning away from under roots, leaving hundreds of trees precariously balanced upright before toppling with little or no warning.
Nobody has been hurt, but there have been a few close calls.
In one scare, three firefighters slipped in the mud as they ran from a falling tree. The pine crashed down just 4 feet from one of the firefighters, said Tom Krueger, the command team safety officer.
“It’s pretty scary,” said Mark Tracy, a firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service who is helping the effort.
The Dismal Swamp fire has burned about 2,800 acres since it started June 9, but it has grown little since Tuesday, according to the command team overseeing the firefighting effort. It was 23 percent contained as of Thursday.
In many areas, firefighters have been forced to stay on the perimeter of the burning swamp to avoid falling trees, Krueger said.
About 25 to 60 percent of the trees in the swamp’s burning areas are falling, said Larry Helmerick, a spokesman for the command team. That might equate to 100 or more a day just along the fire’s perimeter, Krueger said.
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