Duke Forest Fire Contained Tuesday

A fire that burned two acres of the Duke Forest on Tuesday afternoon was contained within an hour in Orange County.

No one was injured in the fire, which started in the Blackwood Division after a sweet gum tree fell on a power line, igniting the blaze along Eubanks Road, said Judson Edeburn, Duke Forest manager.

"It burned the under-story brush like small sweet gums and yellow poplars and red maples," he said.

The 7,046-acre Duke Forest, which is home to more than 900 plant species and more than 100 tree varieties, spreads over Durham, Orange and Alamance counties. It is premier researching terrain that also draws more than 170,000 annual recreational visits.

The fire, which was reported about 1:30 p.m., burned near Duke's FACE research site, a project examining effects of elevated carbon dioxide levels on the forest. No research was damaged, Edeburn said.

"It was very close, but it was across the road from the research plot," he said.

Duke Forest authorities, as well as firefighters from Orange County, Chapel Hill and the North Carolina Forest Service, responded to the scene. They contained the fire within an hour by spraying water on hot spots and plowing a soil line around the perimeter of the fire so the flames would not spread.