Forest Fire in Va.

[farmerjan]

I am in no way trying to make light of the horrible devastation from the fires in CO and those neighboring states out West; and thankful that people like Kenny were able to be of some assistance.
But we have one here in the Rockbridge/Augusta Co area, in the Blue Ridge Parkway area and the Shenandoah National Park. It has burned over 1000 acres, started with a vehicle fire 2 days ago, and there was no cell phone service so the people had to hike aways to get cell coverage to be able to report it. We have alot of places here that cell coverage is very spotty. By then it had already gotten into the forest. It is not immediately threatening any homes or animals that I have been made aware of, although there are about a dozen that they are watching out for. But, just an example of something that got away quickly, and continues to spread. It is working its way north-northeast and is not contained yet. There is alot of leaf litter in the forest and we are EXTREMELY DRY for this area and this time of year. It has been in the upper 80's the last couple of days and not even a dew at night. Forecast is for some rain showers over the next 2-3 days, but we are still dealing with breezy conditions. This is pretty rugged terrain, and it has spread pretty fast.

Watching it yesterday evening from about 20 miles away at one of our pastures was a little scary even though we are not in it's path. It looked like someone had set rings of orange/red lights around the mountain in a squiggly line. The smoke has been thick and my son says that VDOT has closed off some roads due to it.

Let's hope for some rain and an end to this before it hits some more densely populated areas.

 

[kenny thomas]

Jan, you know about what I know about it. It seems it's a USFS fire not a state fire. That means bringing crews in from somewhere else usually. It rained some here already but it sure aint enough.

 

[farmerjan]

Update on the "Tye River Fire" here in the Rockbridge/Augusta County area. It is about 75-80% contained with some spots still being allowed to burn out. It was mostly on Forest Service land, but very rugged terrain. 1608 acres is the "official" total of land burned. There were no losses of houses, and as far as has been reported, only the vehicle that caught on fire was lost. We did get about a quarter inch rain between Fri eve and Sunday then another quarter inch of Sunday night into Monday. The winds died down and that helped.

They did have up to 130 fighting it at the most involved time. Our local fire dept was involved as well as forest service fighters.

We were fortunate that it happened where it did and no loss of life either. But it brings home just how AWFUL the fires out in KS last year and CO and surrounding states this year suffered.

Prayers for everyone that have suffered losses from those fires and a prayer of gratitude for our area being spared any worse devastation.