16,000 acre Pulp Road fire is 10% contained
According to the North Carolina Forest Service, the fire started as the result of a prescribed burn conducted by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
SUPPLY, NC (WWAY) — 16,000 acres burned and 10% percent contained. That’s the latest on the Pulp Road fire as of the evening of Sunday, June 18th.
According to the North Carolina Forest Service, the fire started as the result of a prescribed burn conducted by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission on Tuesday, June 13th.
The Forest Services Red Incident Management team has taken the lead in working to contain the fire.
Mike Malcolm is the operational sections chief for the Red Team.
He said while work has been done to keep the fire from spreading, it could still burn beyond the boundaries they have put in place.
“So there is still that potential,” Malcolm said. “We have taken steps to mitigate that hazard by putting in indirect containment lines so in case something did happen,we do have something in place just in case. We plan for that scenario. So yes, there is always potential. Even with these hot temperatures that we’re having right now so anything is possible. Until we get some actual good rainfall on this, that’s when our threat level comes down.”
While the fire grew beyond the intended prescribed burn area, Malcolm said that prescribed burns are still good for the environment.
“We do prescribed burns all the time and if you look over here to the right, it doesn’t even look like the trees are damaged and everything,” Malcolm said. “This area has been burned multiple times before. And then when we have an actual wildfire, we’ve reduced that fuel load in the actual forest so when a wildfire does happen, you can see its a lot easier to contain.”
The air quality has improved in Brunswick County. On Saturday, June 17th, the county was under a code red air quality alert while on Sunday, the county has decreased to a code orange.
The exact cause of the spread of the fire is still under investigation at this time.
Highway 211 remains closed between Little Macedonia Road and Camp Branch Road through Tuesday, June 20th, however the closure could be extended depending on the conditions.
