North Carolina: Whipping Creek Fire

Above: Whipping Creek Fire, April 20, 2016. IMT photo.

(UPDATED at 4:07 p.m. EDT, April 25, 2016)

The Whipping Creek Fire in eastern North Carolina has grown by almost a couple of thousand acres, to 15,449, since we wrote about it yesterday.

On Sunday, two CL-415 water-scooping air tankers made 126 rounds dropping a total of 203,112 gallons of water to strengthen control lines. Firefighters continue to construct and improve containment lines to support and monitor the fire perimeter for flare-ups. There are now 153 personnel assigned to the fire, primarily from the North Carolina Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Below is an excellent map showing the daily progression of the fire.

Whipping Creek Fire pregression map

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(Originally published at 10:13 a.m. EDT, April 24, 2016)

The Whipping Creek Fire has burned 13,773 acres in eastern North Carolina six miles northeast of Engelman and 75 mile east of Greenville. On April 18 two fires on private land merged, and the next day spread onto the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and the Dare Bombing Range.

On Sunday US Highway 264 will be closed to enable two CL-415 water-scooping air tankers from Minnesota to work on the northeast perimeter of the fire. The aircraft will scoop water from the Alligator River and deliver it to the fire every six minutes, according to the Incident Management Team. Some of the water drops delivered on each run will occur adjacent to US 264.

map Whipping Creek Fire
The yellow dots represent heat detected by a satellite on the Whipping Creek Fire, April 19-22, 2016.
Whipping Creek Fire
Damaged power pole along US 264. IMT photo.