Virginia fire chief, line of duty death

Chief Scott Morrison

Chief Scott Morrison

UPDATE March 7, 2013: 

Morrison’s family will receive visitors at Holloman-Brown Funeral Home, Great Bridge Chapel, located at 524 Cedar Road in Chesapeake on Saturday, March 9 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. A memorial service will be held Sunday, March 10 at 2 p.m. at the Knotts Island Fire Department located at 327 Knotts Island Road.

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Scott Morrison, Chief of the Knotts Island Volunteer Fire Department that serves areas in both North Carolina and Virginia died in the line of duty Sunday afternoon while working on a brush fire, collapsing into respiratory and cardiac arrest at the scene. Randall Edwards, public information officer for Currituck Co., said the Chief was treated at the scene by Currituck EMS and also while en route to a hospital in Virginia.

According to his Facebook page, Chief Morrison became a firefighter in 1984 and worked his way up through the ranks. He leaves behind a wife and two children.

We offer our sincere condolences to Chief Morrison’s family and his fellow members of the fire department.

Escaped prescribed fire burns 800 acres in North Carolina

Firefighters in North Carolina’s Pilot Mountain State Park hope to have an escaped prescribed fire 90 percent contained by the end of the day on Monday. On Thursday the burn boss and New River State Park Superintendent Joseph Shimel supervised the ignition of the fire intending to burn 180 acres, but in the afternoon a dead tree near the fireline torched, sending burning embers into steep terrain outside the project’s perimeter, eventually blackening about 800 acres over the weekend.

According to the Winston-Salem Journal, Charlie Peek, public information officer for the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation said the escaped fire:

…pretty much illustrated why we need prescribed burns, because any time fire hits this area — leaf litter, debris and brush — it’s much more difficult to control, and things can get out of hand much more quickly.

Previously the largest prescribed fire in the Park had been 35 acres. Small burns had been conducted in 2004 and 2009.

Photos of the fire

A spokesperson talks about the fire in a video.

Fire in North Carolina allowed to burn

In the western US we call this type of fire a “fire use fire”. But only if a fire management plan allows for this type of fire, and all of the predetermined conditions are met.

From a story in the Charlotte Observer:

A fire has been burning on an island near marker 10 off Stonemarker Point on Lake Norman since Tuesday evening, officials said.

The fire was reported around 7 p.m. Tuesday to the N.C. Division of Forest Resources district office in Mount Holly.

Brian Haines, a spokesman for NCDFR in Raleigh, said rangers from the division have been allowing the fire to burn on the 18-acre uninhabited island because it doesn’t pose a threat to people or properties.

“It’s not going to go anywhere,” Haines said. “It’s surrounded by water so you have a natural fire break there.”

The island is located in Lincoln County off McConnell Road, and can also be seen from southern Iredell County at the end of Brawley School Road peninsula in Mooresville.

This morning, two rangers went to the island that’s about 500 yards off shore to torch the fire to help it burn faster and reduce the amount of smoke.

Haines said most of the smoke in the area is drifting into the Charlotte area from controlled burning occurring South Carolina and not the island.

“The island is not the major factor of smoke coming into Charlotte, “he said.

The cause of the fire hasn’t been determined yet.

“It may have been somebody who camped over the weekend and did not fully extinguished their fire,” Haines said.

 

Fires in Virginia, North and South Carolina

Lake Carolina fire
Lake Carolina fire
Lake Carolina in Richland County, VA, from wistv.com

Strong winds up to 50 and 60 mph caused problems for firefighters in Virginia and North Carolina.

Virginia, from Pilotonline.com:

Beyond southeast Virginia, dozens of brush fires burned across the commonwealth and some were still burning Sunday night.

Local authorities declared emergencies in Bedford, Roanoke, Caroline, Orange, Dinwiddie, Lunenburg, Nelson and King George counties.

Shelters were opened in Roanoke and in the counties of Bedford, Hanover and Nelson for evacuees from residential areas threatened by brush fires.

Brush fires and downed power lines have closed parts of several major roads: I-81 north of Roanoke; U.S. 460 in Botetourt County; I-95 in Hanover County; U.S. 60 in New Kent County.

Carolinas, from Foxnews/Associated Press:

CONWAY, S.C. — Wind-whipped wildfires chased churchgoers from worship, forced hundreds of residents to flee homes and closed highways across the rain-starved Carolinas and Virginia on Sunday.

Twelve small structures, including at least one business and an unknown number of homes and sheds, were damaged by a blaze near the South Carolina coast; no injuries were reported, authorities said.

About 60 homes were briefly evacuated Sunday afternoon as the fire sent smoke billowing above this city of about 11,000 people about 15 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach.

“The flames were at the top of the trees and I could feel the heat,” said Lewis Cooper, 37, who fled the fire.

In North Carolina, winds gusting up to 60 mph in some areas toppled trees and power lines and also fanned brush fires.