Pender County fires out, crews watch for flare-ups

PENDER COUNTY -- The fires are out in Pender County. But crews are keeping an eye on flare-ups. It took crews until 10:00 Wednesday night to finally get a handle on yesterday's fire in Hampstead. And by the time it was over it had ravaged more than 225 acres. We now know how it started. Officials say a construction worker was using a welder, which gave off sparks that started the blaze. Due to the quick action of emergency officials everyone was evacuated from their homes safely and there was no structure damage. But even though the fire is well-contained at this point, crews are still hard at work. Jeff Marshburn with the Department of Natural Resources said, "Basically, what we're doing is pushing everything, trying to get to those hot spots that are burning and trying to access them with water so we can get down to the fire." Crews are also still working to control hot-spots from Monday's fire in Pender County. That fire was the result of a controlled burn that got out of hand. Both fires were challenging for firefighters because of windy and extremely dry conditions. The construction crew that started the fire was given a warning, but was not fined.