With the Great Lakes Fire 90 percent contained and efforts to douse it moving smoothly, command of the fire is switching from the wildfire team that covers the southeastern United States to a North Carolina crew.
Operations Chief Allen Huskies said the pumping operation meant to raise the water table to help douse the 32,400 acre fire is all set up.
"We did get all the pumps turned on. Everything started going to plan. We did have one small shortage of water, but we've got that situation worked out,” he said, “The flooding of this area should be complete in just a few days, but right now everything is going as planned on that section of the fire.”
A 2015 report from the North Carolina State University Climate Office cautioned that eastern North Carolina’s pocosins could be a hotspot for large wildfires, because the organic matter can burn like charcoal several feet underground.
