Dismal Swamp Fire Smoke Back on Peninsula

By WYDaily Staff Thursday, August 18, 2011

Smoke from the Great Dismal Swamp Wildlife Refuge fire has returned to the Peninsula and Historic Triangle today, creating conditions that make it unhealthy for older adults and children to spend prolonged time outdoors.

Wind has pushed the plume over the area, with the reports of the fire continuing to burn despite the weekend's heavy rains. The fire started Aug. 4 with a lightning strike on the burn scar of the 2008 refuge wildfire. Vegetation had started to take root there, but dried out this summer because of drought-like conditions. The lightning ignited a fire that has plenty of fuel; most of smoke now affecting air quality is actually the result of burning soil.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality offers the following general guidelines for citizens to use in assessing local air quality conditions whenever there is wildfire smoke present:

• If you can smell smoke with no visibility impairment, air quality levels are probably in the Code Orange range, or Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. At Code Orange levels, people with heart or lung disease, older adults and children should reduce prolonged, strenuous outdoor activities. People who are active outdoors also should take it easier to limit their exposure to particle pollution.

• If you can smell smoke with minor visibility impairment, air quality levels are probably in the Code Red range, or generally Unhealthy. A meteorologist with the state's DEQ has put the area's air quality in a Code Red range. At Code Red levels, people with heart or lung disease, older adults and children should avoid prolonged, strenuous outdoor activities; everyone else should reduce prolonged, strenuous outdoor activities.

• If you can smell smoke with significant visibility impairment, air quality levels are probably in the Code Purple range, or Very Unhealthy. At Code Purple levels, people with heart or lung disease, older adults and children should avoid all outdoor strenuous activities; everyone else should avoid prolonged, strenuous outdoor activities.