CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Foresters in West Virginia probably couldn’t have scripted a better start to the fall forest fire season. The remenants of Hurricane Joaquin coupled with a stalled front over much of the state soaked the forests for the first weekend in October.
“We had an extended dry spell through September, but that’s broken,” said Walt Jackson, Assistant State Forester for Forest Protection with the West Virginia Division of Forestry. “We’ve got significant rainfall and expect quite a bit more over the next several days, so it’s starting out as a wet fire season so far.”
A wet fire season is the best kind of fire season for officials like Jackson, but even he knows in the autumn months conditions rarely stay damp for too long.
“Especialy once the leaves are off the trees, it exposes the forest floor to direct sun radiation and that dries out really quickly,” he said. “Plus the trees are soaking up water through the leaves.”
State law restricts outdoor burning between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 to the hours of 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. All fires have to be constantly attended and ringed by a 10 foot strip of barren soil. The barren soil requirement often gets people into trouble.
“We have a lot of fires that escape because of that,” said Jackson. “They think they’re burning safe, but they forget the heat from the fire is drying the material out and spreading the fire from wherever they are burning.”
The person who started the fire is responsible for all financial losses as a result of the burn. The cost can increase rapidly. Destroyed timber, property damage, possibly homes, and even the cost of the fire department being called to fight the fire are all on the person responsible. Jackson suggested the best thing to do is hold off on your brushfire until after the first of the year.
“Usually it burns a lot better after it’s had some time to dry out,” he said. “Of course when snow is on the ground is the best time to burn that stuff. If there’s an inch of snow on the ground you can burn it anytime of the day.”