Smoke from two wildfires that has blanketed the Albemarle for days has had a mixed effect on area residents.

"I've been to the hospital for it," said Willa Mae Erwin of Currituck.

Justin Falls/The Daily Advance (ENLARGE)

Smoke from two wildfires fills the air along the Camden Causeway Bridge, in Elizabeth City, Saturday.

Erwin, who was in Elizabeth City for Saturday's Juneteenth festival, said both she and a cousin were hospitalized earlier in the week with breathing difficulties.

However, Erwin said the smoke has not altered her routine or driven her indoors.

"It's getting better," she said.

"I try to stay inside," said Chudney Hill of Elizabeth City.

Hill, who also attended Juneteenth, said she has stayed indoors to avoid health problems.

Dickie Graves, a boater who docked his 37-foot vessel "Scrambled Eggs" in Elizabeth City Saturday, said the smoke has not interfered with his travel.

"It hasn't slowed me down," he said. "But it has bothered me some."

Graves and his family have stopped in Elizabeth City for two days on their way back to Callao, Va. from Wrightsville Beach. He said the smoke is not as bad as he's seen it.

"When I went through the Alligator-Pungo Canal a few weeks ago, ash was falling over my boat," he said.

The smoke has come courtesy of a pair of wildfires: one in Hyde County and another in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The Dismal Swamp fire had burned nearly 3,000 acres as of Thursday, while the Hyde fire had consumed more than 41,000 acres as of Saturday.

The state Division of Air Quality issued Code Red and Code Purple — unhealthy to very unhealthy — air pollution advisories for Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Hyde, Pasquotank, Perquimans and Tyrrell counties on Thursday.

According to the N.C. Incident Management Team, Saturday's .02 to .029 inches of rainfall increased humidity and reduced fire activity. However, it would take tropical storm-level rains to significantly reduce the amount of fire and smoke.