THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609180125
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY SCOTT McCASKEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 86 lines
WHILE PLENTY OF rain kept local wildfires at a minimum this summer, four firefighters from the Great Dismal Swamp Wildlife Refuge had a job waiting for them out West. Major blazes there have ravaged through several states.
For the past two months, David J. Brownlie, Ralph M. Keel, Bryan F. Poovey and Bobby G. Carmon were among more than 21,000 firefighting men and women who took on some of the worst wildfires in 75 years.
Brownlie, head of the refuge's fire program, returned home Sept. 11 after spending three weeks fighting infernos in and around California's Yosemite National Park.
``The fire had burned about 59,000 acres by the time we got it contained on Sept. 4,'' said Brownlie, 42, who worked out West as a manager, mapping and gathering information. ``It was caused by 13 lightning strikes that grew together.''
The other firefighters saw front-line action at three sites in Oregon, including a 116,000-acre arson fire near the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.
``The first day we had to retreat to the safety zone because the relative humidity dropped and the fire raced up the hillside,'' said Keel, 54. ``We were fortunate we didn't have any jumps (out of where the fire had been contained). But it was the first time I've been out at a fire for 21 days without a break.''
The firefighters also helped rescue a home from the blaze.
``We saw a firefighter with a pump engine trying to stop a fire that had burned up to the driveway,'' said Poovey, 30, who worked there with Carmon, 34. ``We pulled together and saved the house. The family already had been evacuated.''
As firefighters for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the swamp's team was among the first to get called on from the East. Others from the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service around the country also were asked to help in the Western states, where wildfires have burned out of control.
Next in line were the state and local units. None from South Hampton Roads was called, however.
``When a fire season is particularly bad, as it was this year, the forces are bumped up,'' said Allen R. Carter, fire coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Northeast Region, which stretches from Virginia to Maine.
Although the Great Dismal Swamp may not seem a likely place for big fires, the site has had its share of blazes in recent years - 14 fires during one summer in the 1980s.
Fighting swamp fires is different that battling blazes out West.
``The main thing is that the humidity is lower out there, and that makes for a more rapid rate of spread,'' Keel said. ``And the mountainous terrain makes the operation more difficult.''
The firefighters said one of the greatest risks is being struck by a ``snag,'' a dead tree limb that is weakened by flames and falls with no warning.
To put out a fire, officials must first contain it. At the same time a wildfire is being mapped and evaluated, a containment line is established around the perimeter of the flames. The purpose of the line is to ``starve the fire of fuel,'' Brownlie said.
Firefighters often use streams or rock outcroppings to quell the flames. When natural barriers aren't available, shovels, axes and chain saws are used to established a line, cutting vegetation down to the non-burnable mineral soil. When the fire is moving rapidly and too close for that, bulldozers and aerial retardants are used.
If a fire does jump the containment line, and firefighters cannot reach safety, they may have to use a makeshift fire shelter. They cover themselves with a fire-retardant pup tent placed on soil with straps inside so the firefighters can hold the tent down against the wind. None of the firefighters from the swamp refuge has ever had to use a fire shelter.
When not battling blazes across the country or in the Great Dismal Swamp, the men have other duties. Suffolk resident Brownlie is a forester and fire management officer. Keel, of Virginia Beach, is a wildlife biologist. Poovey, from Corapeake, N.C., is a forestry technician. Carmon, of Hampton, is a firefighter and tractor operator.
But the trip to California and Oregon is not the first, and probably will not be the last, time the firefighters are called to serve outside of the area. Each already has been out West at least three times. They say fighting the flames - here or away - has a special lure.
``Firefighting has a lot of camaraderie to it,'' Brownlie said. ``It's similar to a military operation. It's that feeling of a team completing a mission. Plus, it does get you to parts of the country that you may never see otherwise.'' MEMO: Staff writer Meredith Cohn contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
These firefighters fought the wildfires. They are, from left: Bobby
Carmon, David Brownlie, Ralph Keel and Bryan Poovey. by CNB