Single Publication

Great Lakes Fire Daily Update, April 28, 2023

Fire personnel held a community meeting last night. This meeting was recorded and will be posted on the N.C. Forest Service YouTube Channel.

Great Lakes Fire: The Great Lakes Fire, located within Croatan National Forest, one mile South-Southeast of New Bern, started on April 19th. The fire is suspected to be human-caused and is still under investigation. It is burning in pocosin swamp and mixed fuels within and around the footprint of the 2012 Dad Fire, which burned roughly 21,331 acres. Previous prescribed burning by the U. S. Forest Service helped slow fire spread by reducing the amount of burnable vegetation. No structures have been lost and none are currently threatened. 

Acreage: 32,400 acres Containment: 30% 

Personnel and Equipment: 232 total personnel; 4 Helicopters, 16 Type-6 Engines, 17 Type-2 Tractor Plow Units, 1 drone, 1 Fixed Wing Aircraft, 1 tracked vehicles and 2 Ambulances. 

Today: 

At this morning’s firefighter briefing, meteorologist, Scott Kennedy, said “I’m disappointed by the amount of rain over the fire,” referring to last night’s precipitation of approximately ¼ inch of precipitation or less. We need a lot more rain to saturate the fire that is burning underground."

The Southern Area Incident Command Team continues to work closely with U.S. Forest Service, N.C. Forest Service, local agencies, private landowners and Weyehaeuser Corporation. Firefighters continue to use tractor plows to install and complete primary and secondary contingency lines. Contingency lines create a barrier between the fire edge and surrounding communities and are preventative measures against lateral fire growth. Firefighters will also identify possible suppression repair needs within and around the fire perimeter. Road crews delivered rock west of the fire permitter to repair Mattock Road where heavy machinery access the fire. Drones are in use for identifying additional suppression and repair needs where access within the Croatan National Forest is limited. Drone pilots also help firefighters identify hotspots within the fire using infrared technology, especially in the northeast and eastern perimeter of the fire. Flooding operations continue in the southern portion of the fire and firefighters are taking advantage of recent and future rains to encourage flooding.  

A structure protection specialist has been on scene to identify threats to adjacent private lands including properties in the Catfish Lake Road, Middle Lake Road and Island Creek communities. 

Weather and Fire Behavior: Today a strong low-pressure system may impact the area with isolated showers and thunderstorms. Rainfall is expected to amount to 1-1.5” by tonight. Relative humidity is expected to be 65-70% with light winds and gusts up to 20 mph from the southeast direction. Another strong front is expected to impact the area on Sunday. Fire behavior is not expected to change due to the weather. Drier and windier weather is expected Monday through the middle of next week. 

Air quality: Information on current air quality data for North Carolina is at https://www.airnow.gov/.  

Closures: Road closures on County Line Road and Catfish Lake Road remain in effect. Updates to road closures surrounding the fire is at https://drivenc.gov/. 

Temporary Flight Restriction: A Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) remains in place over the fire area; information is at Federal Aviation Administration website. This is necessary to protect aerial operations. If there are intrusions into the Temporary Flight Restrictions, we must stop aerial operations. 

We have had many offers of donations to firefighters. We are grateful for your support, but currently do not have the capacity for processing and storing donations on site. In lieu of donations to the Great Lakes Fire please consider making a monetary donation to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation.