25 September 2011

Va. Wildfire Continues Burning Despite Rain

Va. Wildfire Continues Burning Despite Rain

More than a foot of rain hasn't stopped the fire from burning at Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia.

Despite all the rain and moisture, the nearly 2-month-old wildfire continues to smolder.

It started Aug. 4, and has scorched more than 6,000 acres -- nearly 6 percent of the refuge that straddles the border of Virginia and North Carolina. Smoke from the fire has been seen, and smelled, as far north as Washington.

The fire is now 90 percent contained, and officials think the cause was a lightening strike that was fed by fallen timber and thick layers of decomposed vegetation.

No one has been injured in the fire, but hundreds of acres of Atlantic white cedar have been destroyed.

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