The Nation : Fire Burns 80,000 Acres

A four-mile-wide fire swept up North Carolina’s parched coast, scorching 80,000 acres of woodlands, but firefighters made a determined stand at the Alligator River and saved the town of Gum Neck, a crossroads community of 200 persons. Fires have gutted 50 homes and four businesses in North Carolina, causing an estimated $4-million damage, and injured 30 persons. In South Carolina, two fires covering 5,000 acres were near containment, state forestry officials said. Forestry officials in Virginia said that two blazes, which are still burning, have scorched about 10,000 acres.