CHESAPEAKE, Va. Forestry officials say that until there's a good soaking rain, smoke from a wildfire in the Great Dismal Swamp area will continue to hang over Hampton Roads.

Fire crews from Chesapeake and the Virginia and North Carolina forestry departments have contained the 113-acre peat fire. It continues to blacken vegetation on private property just north of the Virginia state line, a mile east of U-S Route 17.

The peat smolders and the wind blows it across the region. Peat is a thick, partially decayed organic matter that blankets the swamp floor.

John Miller with the Virginia Department of Forestry says lightning caused the Dismal Swamp fire three weeks ago.

Miller says it's too expensive to bring in pumps to flood the area, so they must wait on Mother Nature to put out the fire.