Monday I stopped on my way into work to take this picture. The smoke is from a fire about nine miles away -- the distance I was from my workplace. When I got back in the truck and continued on my way, I entered the smoke bank about five miles down the road. Have you ever been in smoke from a peat fire? It's a rough go...acrid, stinging smoke that irritates the eyes and burns the throat.
Above is a shot of the sky that greeted me at work. I went out to check our boundaries to see if any of the fire had managed to cross the highway and enter the park. Luckily for us, it hadn't jumped the road.
As the day progressed, the wind shifted and blew the smoke to our east. This shot was taken from our bridge as I was closing up.
The fire started on Sunday, fanned by high winds. As of today, it has burned a total of 1700 acres. The highway, a major artery between VA and NC was closed today after a five-car wreck early this morning. Apparently a driver was blinded by the smoke and stopped in the road. Not a good thing... The smoke shifted north today and made the road too dangerous for traffic.
The weatherman says we should get rain tonight and most of tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for us. Peat fires are notoriously hard to put out -- we need a lot of rain.
4 comments:
Hoping for a long soaking rain for your area tonight.
These forest fires are amazing. I'll try to steer some of the snow and rain in Ohio towards your way.
Tom
I hope all the green on the weather channel today meant you got soaked.
Love that Florida blue sky in the lower post!
:)
Hopefully that peat fire is out by now. That's a lot of choking smoke. I wonder how the animals fare. How did it start? Underground?
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