Swamp fire still burning
Swamp fire still burning
28 December 2011
published by www.charltoncountyherald.com
USA — Looks like the Honey Prairie fire is going to be with us in 2012.
The blaze continues to burn deep down into the dry peat on the west side of the refuge, said Art Webster with the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge recently.
Aerial observers report that the 2.5 mile line of fire has made very little advancement. There is no visible flame but it is still smoking. Crews continue to patrol Swamps Edge Break. Twelve personnel are currently assigned to the fire that has burned 309,200 acres since April 28, 2011.
The water table needs to come up high enough to extinguish the fire, said Webster. The U.S. Drought Monitor indicates that the area remains in severe drought. In the last 30 days, a weather station near the fire recorded 2.6 inches of rainfall.
In the last week, the reading on the Suwannee River gage in Fargo has gone from 15 to 25 cubic feet per second. The average for this date, over the past 78 years, is 596 cubic feet per second.
For the complete story, see this week’s Herald.
