The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1957-08-16
OUR CITIZENS ARE HEAVIEST
LOSERS AS FOREST FIRES
DEVASTATE 10000 ACRES
Two Weeks Toll in Hyde and Dare Woodlands
Means Greatest Losses in Many Years in Tim
Der. Game and Potential Tourist Income; May
Prove Serious Discouragement to investors.

Close scrutiny of losses sustained
during two weeks of raging fires
on the mainland of Dare and Hyde
counties brings us up against the
striking knowledge that the loss
which may eventually run into mil
lions will be primarily the loss of
the citizens of Dare and Hyde
counties.
What is not readily apparent is
that in dollars and cents, the own
ers of the property, West Virginia
Pulp & Paper Company, may never
suffer in any degree to compare
with the people who are here, who
will remain here, and who must
make their living here.
Some of the heaviest losses are
immediate ones, for the Pamlico
Power & Light Co. of Engelhard
whose lines deliver electricity to
three Dare County villages, were
damaged and subjected to costly
replacement. Service to citizens
was interrupted while repairs were
made, and financial losses resulted
from interrupted refrigeration and
other inconvenience.
But the heavier losses will be
more evident in months and years
ahead. There will be loss of income
to guides and others local business
men in the months of this winter
because there will be fewer game
animals to attract sportsmen whose
spending is worth while in dull
season.
There will be losses next year,
when property values are reduced
on the tax books, and smaller sums
in taxes will be paid to the county
treasury.
There was loss during the past
two weeks when tourist travel
along the roads in the area was in
terrupted and those who depend on
tourist dollars lost income.
Millions in Timber Gone
1t is mighty conservative es-
innate to say that what might have
in few years developed into far
more than million dollars worth
of merchantable timber, went up in
smoke. Maybe a company of the
magnitude of West Virginia can
write enough of it off in tax losses
to minimize this blow to almost
nothing. But our citizens can't
write it off their losses. The mis-
fortune will continue a cumulative
loss which year after year will
take away from their resources and
their opportunities for deriving in
come in their homeland.
This fire has been our most wide
ly publicized one, through press,
radio and television daily. With its
day by day progress, the public is
familiar. The public however, has
not been told fully the causes that
made this our worst fire. 1t is not
generally understood why this one
was SO intense and lasted so long.
The greatest contributing factor
has been this summers long dry
spell, the weeks and months with
out rain, whereby the water table
has been lowered some three feet.
Months of this dry weather has al
lowed the peaty soil to become as
dry as finder. The soil in most of
this area consists of layers of
logs, limbs and roots, and most of
these roots being dead from other
causes, the whole area beneath the
soil to depth of two or three feet
is highly flammable. Once getting
on fire, it burns for weeks and
sometimes months, with slow
blaze far under the soil. Fires
thought to have been extinguished,
sometimes break out unexpectedly
See FIRE, Page Six