Pete Hypes
Whose Smoke Is It?
By
Jun 11, 2008 - 11:35:02 AM

As A-shift began on Friday, June 6, units were being sent all over the county for the smell of something burning, or smoke investigations. Station 14 was no exception, being sent to Dottie Dr. and Executive Dr. Fortunately, we had been informed of a large woods fire in North Carolina that may have been causing the haze and the smell.

As a result of having to do a news interview with Channel 12, I learned the following about the fire in North Carolina:

•    The fire started on June 1, as a result of a lightning strike, in Hyde County, North Carolina.

•    The fire had burned 29,000 acres, with 16,000 of those acres burning in the last 24 hours.

•    DEQ had determined that the haze in our region was caused by this large fire.

Now that the sun has burned through the majority of the haze, the number of calls connected to this has stopped.

There was a similar situation in our area a number of years ago, where numerous calls were coming into the dispatch center for smoke investigations in the Chester area. This was different from today, in that it was confined to Chester. These calls were being received in the middle of the night, and all that the units knew was that something was burning somewhere. I remember the jump seat firefighters stating that the smoke was so thick that they needed their breathing apparatus, just to ride the streets while looking for the fire. Engine 14, which was U-143 in those days, drove onto the campus of John Tyler Community College, and found Byrd Hall burning.

Today’s situation involved our entire region, but until you know that, you call for help and the fire department responds. I chock this up to another unusual, but normal day at Station 14. 


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