BRUNSWICK COUNTY — A wildfire that has been burning in Brunswick County is continuing to dwindle after N.C. Forest Service crews have been manning it for two weeks.
READ MORE: Forest Service launches investigation after week-long blaze in Brunswick
As of Wednesday, June 28, the fire in Green Swamp Nature Preserve is 90% contained, according to the state agency. It has burned a little more than 15,600 acres.
Monday’s rainfall helped, bringing almost an inch to shower over the flames.
Spokesperson Philip Jackson said personnel have been conducting drone infrared (IR) flights. They started along the northern perimeter of the fire Tuesday night, crossing 5 miles.
Wednesday, crews tackled the remaining 2.5 miles of the perimeter.
“Data from that flight is currently being assessed,” Jackson said. “We expect to continue increasing containment throughout the week as more IR flights are conducted over the fire area.”
The blaze began as a result of a prescribed burn by the N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission. The agency intended to impact 399 acres of land. The controlled fire started Tuesday, June 13, and crews extinguished it the next day. However, when checking back in that Thursday, the fire had reignited and grew to encompass 2,000 acres.
Firefighters attempted to manage the fire directly with tractor plows at first. Yet, that wasn’t successful “due to the wet nature and deep organic soils that exist within the Green Swamp Nature Preserve.”
The brush in the preserve has collected fuels for 70 years, having not been burned since the 1950s. So crews begin using strategic firing operations to contain the fire within the preserve.
They dropped in aerial ignition devices to burn the vegetation and move the fire to the road’s edges, including Highway 211 set as the perimeter. It grew to almost 16,000 acres by Saturday, June 17.
No injuries have been reported and no structures threatened. The preserve remains closed until further notice.
“How the prescribed burn became a wildfire is currently undetermined and remains under investigation,” Jackson told PCD last week.
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