Tires wash up on Bogue Banks beaches

BOGUE BANKS — One of the few visible signs left behind by Hurricane Earl created an odd sight on the beaches along Bogue Banks — but one that quickly disappeared.

Staff with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries hit the beach early Friday morning to clean up the shoreline following reports of tires washing up on shore due to the hurricane.

The tires, believed to be from an artificial reef site built offshore years ago, stretched from Atlantic Beach to Emerald Isle with the largest concentration of them being along Pine Knoll Shores and Indian Beach.

Division Director Louis Daniel said they haven’t used tires for artificial reefs since the 1970s and early 1980s, but the tires from the old reefs sometimes loosen during storms and wash ashore.

The last time they saw them come ashore in such a large number is Hurricane Bonnie in 1998. In March 1993, a winter storm caused thousands of tires to wash ashore in Brunswick County, according to a previous Daily News report.

“At this amount, it’s unsual,” he said. “What seems to be happening is that the bands holding them together have corroded away over time and loosened the tires so that a storm like (Hurricane Earl) drives them up to the beach,” Daniel said.

Division crews worked with town officials from Atlantic Beach and Pine Knoll Shores to load tires into trucks and to carry them away. And while a few more may appear over the next few days, people heading to the beach this weekend shouldn’t be concerned.

“They may see a tire here or there but we don’t anticipate another wash up,” Divison spokeswoman Patricia Smith said.

The tires were taken to a local trash transfer station that normally accepts tires and will be kept separately from other trash until they can be hauled to a tire collection facility that operates under a N.C. Scrap Tire Certification, Smith said.