Peat Soils At Hales Lake

Peat Soil at Hales Lake
Environmental Issues:

It is very important to understand the impact on people’s health/lives and the impact on the budget of the NC Forestry Department. Peat Soils which predominate in the Hales Lake area can be ignited easily and can burn underground for weeks. It is believed that the peat soil depth at Hales Lake is up to 10 feet deep.

This peat soil has fueled several major fires in recent years that have cost North Carolina taxpayers millions to extinguish. Fires in recent years have generated so much smoke that major highways have been closed completely for days due to zero visibility (U.S. Highway 17) and complaints were logged as far away as Virginia Beach and Portsmouth (more than 30 miles away) due to health problems caused by smoke from the fires.

It will take but a single jet fighter accident at or near an OLF at Hales Lake to ignite a major peat fire.

Several of the fires in recent years have also resulted in evacuations of residents in nearby Moyock.

Major peat fires at or near the Hales Lake OLF site:

"The Last One Fire" - October 2001, approximately 500 acres, cost $1.4 million to extinguish and took approximately 6 weeks to contain, centered on Camden/Currituck county line immediately adjacent to proposed OLF site at Hales Lake.

"Blackwater Fire" - February 2002, approximately 300 acres at a cost of $1 million and 4 weeks contain, centered on Blackwater Worldwide property immediately adjacent to the proposed Hales Lake OLF site.

"Corapeake Rd Fire" - May 2004, approximately 300 acres, cost $1.1 million to extinguish and took 3 weeks to contain, centered on USFW Dismal Swamp Wildlife Refuge just west of US Highway 17 in Camden County, NC.

"Ponderosa Fire" - 2005 , approximately 100 acres, unknown cost and number of
weeks, centered on private property along Virginia/Camden County border east of US Highway 17.

"McPherson Road Fire" - February 2008, approximately 2300 acres, cost of nearly $1 million to extinguish and took 3 weeks to contain, centered in Camden County near state line east of US Highway 17. Resulted in several closings of U.S. Highway 17 due to zero visibility from smoke. Smoke generated complaints more than 30 miles away in Virginia.

The info above is approximate. If you need more details or better cost estimates, please call the NC Forest Service district office at 331-4781.

Photos of recent peat fires in the Hales Lake area are below:

THE HALE’S LAKE OLF SITE IS ON OR NEAR PEAT SOIL

Please notice the ground has burned down 3-4 feet from the original ground level seen on the trees. This is called "ground fire" and is the result of a wildfire on organic (peat) soils.

McPherson Road Fire Photos by Daily Advance and others

An OLF At Hales Lake Represents a Serious Wildfire Risk!

Presently, two separate peat / wildfires are burning and causing havoc in our area, including heavy smoke conditions for hundreds of miles and costly operations. One is occurring in Hyde County and covers 40,000 acres (an area roughly the size of the City of Norfolk, Virginia)! The other is burning in the Great Dismal Swamp on the North Carolina/Virginia border and has seriously affected air quality and visibility in the Tidewater area of Virginia during the second week of June 2008.

These fires are separated by approximately 75 miles. But what they have in common is that both are being fueled by the thick peat soils which cover the area – the same peat soils that exist in abundance at the Hales Lake Site. Much of northeastern North Carolina was once part of the Great Dismal Swamp. After generations of clear cutting and farming, much of the area no longer appears to be very swamp-like. However, a remnant of the days when the area was encompassed by the Great Dismal Swamp remains – the highly organic, highly flammable peat soils.

The Hales Lake Site is covered with peat soils up to 10 feet deep. A nearby peat fire burned 8,000 acres in the Spring of 2008 in Camden County. U.S. Route 17 was closed for several days because of heavy smoke and surrounding areas suffered from poor visibility and dangerous air quality conditions. These peat fires can burn underground making them very difficult to extinguish. The Spring 2008 fire was finally doused only after a week of drenching rains from a nor’easter.

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THESE FIRES ARE RECURRING EVENTS IN THIS SOIL CONDITION, AND ARE CAUSED MOSTLY BY LIGHTNING STRIKES THAT CANNOT BE PREVENTED BY MAN'S NORMAL FIRE PREVENTION PRACTICES.

Some recent news articles concerning peat fires in the area of the Hales Lake Site:

1. The Virginian-Pilot, Thursday, June 12, 2008. Article, "To Fight N.C. Blaze, Teams Roll Out the Heavy Equipment." Excerpt from article attributed to Hannah Thompson, NC Division of Forest Resources, about the 40,000 acre wildfire burning in Hyde, Tyrrell, and Washington counties (including the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge). The fire started on June 1, 2008, nearly two weeks ago.

"The fire is fueled by peat, essentially highly flammable, decaying vegetation. Firefighters compare it to charcoal.

And that fuel runs deep--patches of peat can be found 8 feet beneath the surface, according to state and local firefighters. That's why the fire is expected to smolder for weeks or even months unless a significant rain-producer, such as a tropical storm, comes along."

QUESTION: How long would the Navy be willing to wait for Mother Nature's help in the event of a peat / wildfire at the Hale's Lake site? Do we just "pray for rain," or do we use good judgment and not waste the taxpayers' money to haphazardly locate the OLF here in the middle of this "highly flammable" soil condition? Armed with the knowledge and record of peat / wildfires, the Navy's location of an OLF at Hale's Lake, essentially on a bed of charcoal, would constitute extremely poor risk management.

2. The Virginian-Pilot, Friday, June 13, 2008. Article, "Fire Grows 200 Acres; Fighting Cost Passes $2M." Excerpt from article attributed to Dean McAllister, spokesman at incident command center for the 40,000 acre NC wildfire in Hyde, Tyrrell, and Washington counties. It is about a tactic known as "prescribed burning" that is used to remove fuel ahead of the fire's onslaught. Self-igniting flammable liquid pellets are dropped from aircraft. This airborne firefighting tactic had to be aborted Thursday because of thick smoke.

"A prescribed burn planned for Thursday was canceled because of smoky conditions that grounded aircraft in the morning."

QUESTION: If experienced firefighting aircraft pilots can't fly safely in the area, how can Navy jets that are training pilots fly safely? Again, how long is the Navy willing to suspend flight training operations...weeks? Months? How much of taxpayers' money is the Navy willing to spend on firefighting costs for a peat / wildfire on the OLF site? Aren't proper risk management practices (i.e., ruling out sites that present obvious hazards) cheaper than making a huge mistake and then trying to deal with it after the fact? Again, these fires CANNOT be prevented by man. The "highly flammable" soil makeup is a fact of life, as are lightning strikes.

3. The Virginian-Pilot, Friday, June 13, 2008. Article, "Swamp fire 'backing up'; more help in on the way." Excerpt from Page B4 attributed to Catherine Hibbard, spokeswoman for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, about the 900 acre peat / wildfire in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

"The swamp's organic soil--thick with dry peat moss--could fuel the blaze for weeks, she said."

COMMENT: It should be pointed out that the majority of this National Wildlife Refuge lies in North Carolina's Camden and Gates counties, and the fire is threatening to spread across the state line. The soil makeup there is the same as that of the fire's location, unaffected by the geographical state line boundary. A terrific exhibit at the new Great Dismal Swamp State Park Visitor Center on U.S. Route 17 clearly shows the peat depth and consistency in the area of Camden County. This center is within a few hundred yards of this past spring's 8,000 acre peat / wildfire in Camden County, NC.

3. The Virginian-Pilot, Saturday, June 14, 2008. Article, "Smoke from Fires to Pose Threat to Region’s Air Quality." The article outlines the difficulties encountered in putting out two large peat fires in the region and the severe air quality and visibility problems they are causing. The Director of the North Carolina Division of Air Quality says the fires are causing major air quality problems.

"Th ese are some of the highest levels of particle pollution we have ever recorded."

COMMENT: Again, these fires burning deep in peat soils can become larger than human intervention can control. Not only are these wildfires on peat soils a safety hazard and a hazard to property and wildlife, they are also a hazard to human health. During droughts and dry spells, the smallest spark can set off these fires yet the impacts can be felt sometimes for hundreds of miles around. Why would the Navy invest hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on such a hazardous site?

4. The Virginian-Pilot, Saturday, June 14, 2008. Article, "Pilot of Virginia Beach-based Jet Killed in Crash Over Nevada." A pilot of an Oceana-based F/A-18C Hornet was killed on June 13, 2008, when the jet he was flying collided with another aircraft during a training exercise. The aircraft was assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 15 at Oceana Naval Air Station. The squadron had been training in Nevada since early June.

COMMENT: While no one wants to talk about such unpleasant topics, accidents can and do happen with these fighter jet aircraft. The peat fires of the Hales Lake area are not always ignited by natural causes such as lightning. A jet collision or crash at or near the Hales Lake Site and its highly flammable peat soils would be devastating for the entire region. Some of the past peat fires in the Hales Lake area have been sparked by items as tiny as cigarette butts. A jet fighter accident with burning jet fuel combined with the heavy peat soils could ignite a major wildfire in the Hales Lake area. Considering the fact that the Navy intends to conduct tens of thousands of flight operations at an OLF site each year, it is not hard to imagine the risk here. It will only take one mishap.