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Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Forest Fires Between Linden and Overhills, and Rockfish Township, Extinguished, April 26, 1923

Cumberland Fire Swept Portion of Harnett Sunday. . . Two Conflagrations Originating in Opposite Directions, Exhaust Their Force When Met by Fire Fighters of Harnett County

Fayetteville, April 24—Forest fires, sweeping an area of 60 square miles between Linden and Overhills hunting preserve and a 250-acre tract of valuable timber in Rockfish township, this county, have wrong damages which will amount high into the thousands of dollars.

The two fires seem of have started about the same time Sunday afternoon in opposite ends of the county from causes undetermined at this time. Both are now under control.

The timber burned in the Overhills-Linden section is estimated at more than $10,000, while some damage was done to growing crops and scores of farm houses were menaced. The damage from the Rockfish fire is not yet known, but the timber tract burned is said to have been of unusual quality.

A third fire swept part of the Fort Bragg artillery range, but no considerable damage is reported beyond an explosion which is thought to have been from a dud in the path of the flames. Reports of forest fires in the South River section of Bladen county have also reached this city.

The fire in the Overhills section reached its greatest intensity about 3 o’clock this morning. It has been fought since last Sunday afternoon by Warden R.W. Christian, Deputy Warden W.J. Adams and scores of farmers and others acting as volunteer assistants. According to Deputy Warden Adams, the burned area is 15 miles long and four miles wide. A 40-mile wind which sprang up last night carried the fire across many roads that had been counted on to check it, and the blaze would probably have swept its way to the Cape Fear river at Lillington but for the protection area which surrounds the Overhills estate.

From the front page of The Harnett County News, Lillington, N.C., April 26, 1923

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