MOOREFIELD, W.Va. — Enough rain fell Friday night into Saturday morning to help firefighters contain forest fire burning in West Virginia’s Potomac Highlands, but state officials say there’s still more work to do to put the flames out completely.
West Virginia Division of Forestry Director Jeremy Jones said on “West Virginia Outdoors” Saturday morning he’s cautiously optimistic about the progress.
“We did get enough rain to help but it’s not going to be enough to put everything to bed,” he said.
Governor Jim Justice declared a State of Emergency for Hardy, Grant, Hampshire, and Pendleton counties on Thursday due to the fires.
About eight homes and a couple outbuildings have been damaged or destroyed in the fires, but Jones said there could be more homes in danger.
Jones said they’re trying to create a perimeter to contain the flames before the winds blow.
“The line that we got cut around it, whether it be something that we did or a road or something like that, we’ll go around that and we’ll go 50-100 feet in and take care of that area. All of the interior stuff will continue to smolder and smoke,” he explained.
Dry and windy conditions are expected Monday, which Jones said is concerning to firefighters on the ground and residents who live nearby.
“These fires are going to start smoking again, unfortunately,” Jones said. “We’re going to anchor in and get all of the control lines buttoned down before the breeze is predicted.”
Some drones could be flying Saturday afternoon, weather depending, to identify some hot spots. Jones said they’ll be back on the ground Sunday.
Our two @WVNationalGuard aircraft & flight crews are back at their home bases safely after completing a total of 143 Bambi Bucket sorties over Hardy County dropping approx. 95K gallons of H2O to drench the wildfires over rough & dangerous terrain. #AlwaysReadyAlwaysThere 🇺🇲 pic.twitter.com/rOEWgxjKOf
— WV National Guard (@WVNationalGuard) March 23, 2024
The state is utilizing two West Virginia National Guard Blackhawk helicopters for aerial drops over the fire zone.
“They ended up dropping about 95,000 gallons of water over about a 9-hour period. They dropped on the Grace Mountain Fire and the Dove Hollow Fire, which tremendously helped us gain additional containment on those two fires,” Jones said.
The Grace Mountain Fire has covered about 1,600 acres in Hardy County. The Dove Hollow Fire, also burning in Hardy County, has consumed about 2,950 acres. A third major fire in Hardy County was the Capon Fire.
The other major fire in the region was the Spring Run Fire which was in Grant County outside of Petersburg and local authorities were working to get it under control.
No injuries or fatalities have been reported as a result of the fires.
Jones also reminding residents about spring outdoor burning restrictions. He said April is typically their most active month of the fire season and that these fires may be just the beginning of a very busy season ahead.