Brush Fires Keep Firefighters Busy
Photo by Thomas Rollins/Chilhowie Fire Department
Brad Caudill, top, offers a drink of water to Armando Socarras as the two Chilhowie firefighters battle the 10-acre brush fire surrounding them Monday off Friendship Road. Caudill and Socarras were sharing the hydration pack Caudill was wearing.
Firefighters from five Washington County departments spent most of Monday battling a fast-spreading, 10-acre brush fire that erupted along the 12000 block of Friendship Road and moved into forested areas near the Smyth County line.
No structures were damaged, and no injuries reported, but it took the firefighters about five hours to extinguish the flames.
The blaze was one of several brush fires that erupted in the region Monday and Tuesday. Firefighters said the warm, windy weather and dry conditions were partly to blame.
In Bluff City, Tenn., on Tuesday, firefighters from two departments battled a two-acre grass fire along Pleasant Grove Road near Whitetop Road, said Jason Hockett of the East Volunteer Fire Department.
The flames came close to one home, but it was never seriously threatened, Hockett said.
“The warm, dry conditions and low humidity made for a rough afternoon,” Hockett said.
Hickory Tree Volunteer Fire Department also helped battle the blaze.
The Friendship Road fire in Washington County, Va., occurred about two miles from Chilhowie, in an area that is mostly farmland, but has thick brush, many wooded areas and very steep terrain, Chilhowie firefighter Andrew Catron said Tuesday.
The rough terrain, inaccessibility of the area and whipping winds quickly led to five alarm calls, Chilhowie firefighter Thomas Rollins said in a written statement. In addition to Chilhowie, the Glade Springs, Meadowview, Adwolf and Damascus fire departments responded. So did the U.S. Forest Service.
Catron said the cause of the fire is under investigation by the Virginia Department of Forestry.
Firefighters said the inaccessibility of the area dictated that the fire be fought by hand. While tankers, brush trucks and other sources of firefighting water were available, that water could not be used on the specific hot spots because of their distances from the closest points for vehicular access.
Bristol Herald Courier staff Amy Hunter, David McGee and Christine Uthoff contributed to this report.
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