PULASKI COUNTY, Va. – Surrounding counties are lending a hand after winds took hold of multiple fires across Virginia. A crew from Southwest Virginia headed to Albemarle and Page counties last week to help put out the fires.
“We see the benefit of our resources going out and helping those others cause we at some point in time may need the same and it also gives our firefighters and our first responders the opportunity to work on large incidents that they may not get they gain and experience in doing so,” Brad Wright, emergency manager for Pulaski County said.
The Virginia Department of Forestry said the fire on Waterfall Mountain has burned more than 6,000 acres and is 80% contained. The cause of the fires in Page County is still under investigation, but winds could have played a major role.
“In some cases, we saw that the winds were blowing down powerlines and knocking down dead trees on the powerlines, so we saw some fire starting from that,” Cory Swift, with VDOF, said.
The fires were rapidly moving throughout the windy conditions, ultimately threatening several homes. Pulaski County fire officials said before heading out there the wildfires were short-staffed due to the number of fires sparking in the area.
“The area that we specifically worked in was in an urban interface area, meaning where homes are intertwined with the woodlands and we did structure protection majority of the assignment while we were going,” Wright said.
The Virginia Department of Forestry said last week’s rain helped tremendously.
“Who knows where we would be right now if we hadn’t received that rainfall? It definitely helped suppress fire activity by soaking those fine fuels and making them harder to combust or less likely to combust,” Swift said.
The Virginia Department of Forestry said they hope to have all the remaining fires fully contained before this Friday.