CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Halfway through the spring forest fire season in West Virginia fire crews have been busy. According to the West Virginia Division of Forestry, to date there have been 442 separate fires in the state which have burned approximately 2,556 acres.
Eric Jarrell, Assistant State Forester for Fire said more than half of the fires were blamed on two causes.
“About of the third of the fires have been escaped debris burning, but then about another third have been caused in relation to power lines,” said Jarrell.
He said the windy conditions have caused trees or tree limbs to come crashing down on remote power lines, showering sparks onto dry grass and leaves. When just a few sparks shower down, the fire is quickly off and running.
“A lot of times those fires are in remote areas and tough to get too and a lot of times those fires get pretty big on us,” he said.
But there has been sporadic rainfall which has helped keep most of West Virginia’s forest fires fires in check.
“The rain has helped out with not letting them get real big. We’ve only had six fires over 100 acres in size. We’re lucky on that front and that’s got a lot to do with the sporadic rain we’re getting,” he said.
The law requires any debris burning to be done between the hours of 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. However, foresters say if the conditions are windy, it’s adviseable to put off any burning until another time when the situation isn’t as volatile.