CAMDEN, N.C. (AP) -- Fire crews are battling a 278-acre fire in parts of the lightly populated Great Dismal Swamp in North Carolina and Virginia, officials said Wednesday.
The Corapeake Road fire was reported Sunday by a private pilot who flew over the area and saw smoke. Lightning is believed to have caused the fire, which started in Camden County, said John Hurdle, district operations chief for the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources.
When it began, the fire was about five acres but reached about 200 acres when a fire line was plowed around it Monday evening. Aircraft have dropped more than 30 loads of water and flame retardant on the fire.
``It has not rained in this area in a while, so it's continued to burn,'' Hurdle said. ``And we expect that it still will continue to burn for several days or weeks, depending on the amount of rainfall we get and how well we continue to contain it.''
No one has been evacuated because the nearest residential area is about eight miles away, Hurdle said.
More firefighters were sent Wednesday to the area to relieve those on duty.
The fire is one of the largest so far this year. State crews have fought 3,480 fires on 12,808 acres during the year.
