Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 9, 1995                   TAG: 9504100076
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

OUT-OF-STATE CREWS FIGHT FIRES IN CRAIG

A fire in the John's Creek area, in the southwest corner of the county, could destroy close to 300 acres before it's contained, said Nadine Pollock, a fire information officer for the Forest Service.

Craig County has been under a full fire ban since Friday because of lack of rain. Pollock said dry conditions were producing rapidly spreading fires.

Crews were having a difficult time reaching the 18-plus-acre fire through the dense forest on Potts Mountain, allowing more time for the fire to spread.

She said the Forestry Department has been preparing for an increase in fires by bringing in extra crews from other states.

Firefighters from the Florida Department of Forestry joined crews from Virginia Tech, New Castle and Paint Bank to fight the John's Creek fire.

The "Sacramento Hot Shots," a crew from New Mexico, helped fight another fire, just off the Appalachian Trail.

That fire, near Cove Mountain close to the Montgomery County line, had swallowed about 15 acres by late Saturday.

Pollock said airplane tankers had dropped several rounds of fire retardant on both fires, and crews planned to stay out all night to try to contain them.

An estimated 30 fires have destroyed acreage in the Jefferson and George Washington National Forests since March 1.