Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 30, 1993 TAG: 9308300154
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GLASGOW LENGTH: Medium
"No people or property were threatened by the fire," said George Washington National Forest spokesman W. Terry Smith, who declared the fire contained at 6:30 p.m.
Smith said the cost of fighting the fire was $101,000 and expected to rise as work continued.
Sunday morning, firefighters dropped incendiary devices from a helicopter to light fires in front of the moving blaze. Those set fires, called backfires, burned back to the main blaze. With no fuel in its path, the main blaze was halted.
About 175 foresters from Virginia and West Virginia fought the fire, which Ranger Vic Gaines said probably was started by lightning that hit a pine tree killed by pine beetles.
Another fire started by lightning burned five acres a few miles away Wednesday.
Smith said the forest was tinder-dry because of lack of rain.
The fire, the 11th in the national forest this year, was discovered about 6 p.m. Friday after smoldering for two days. It had burned more than 160 acres by Saturday night, making it the largest fire in the national forest since 1,425 acres burned on Piney Mountain in October 1991, Smith said.
Smith said firefighters would reassess conditions this morning and begin mop-up.
The dead tree that may have helped spread the fire was killed by the pine beetles, which have already destroyed more than 8 million pine trees statewide since January. Gov. Douglas Wilder declared a natural disaster last Monday in the state's pine forests and called on all state agencies to take action to prevent the infestation from spreading.
The mountain, in an isolated part of Amherst County about five miles east of Glasgow, was strip-mined for shale from 1800 to until 1984.
The fire was difficult to control and hard on the firefighters because of the steep terrain and hot weather, with the temperature reaching 92 degrees Saturday. However, wind speeds were less than 12 mph.
"We had good effort and good results in rugged terrain," Gaines said.
Smith said no injuries were reported despite the high temperatures and rugged terrain.
by CNB