Fires continue to burn Great Dismal Swamp

SUFFOLK, Va. -- Firefighters are looking to Mother Nature to help extinguish a nearly monthlong fire in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Fires have charred about 4,300 acres since June 9. The refuge covers 110,000 acres in Virginia and North Carolina. Firefighters say it may take a hurricane or tropical storm to put out the swamp's largest wildfire in decades. Smoke from the fire has at times enveloped Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Suffolk, reaching as far as Richmond and the Eastern Shore. In southwestern Virginia on Sunday, dozens of firefighters were trying to contain a blaze that has burned more than 500 acres in the Jefferson National Forest. It is believed to have been sparked by a lightning strike... [read full story]