BERKELEY SPRING, W.Va. — While much of West Virginia has seen rainfall in the past couple of days, the place which needs it the most remains dry with winds picking up.
“We’re starting to get some wind. We had a small amount (of rain) yesterday, but that’s been it and there’s no rain in the forecast for days,” said Marshall Younker, Communications Director for the Morgan County Office of Emergency Management.
The forecast didn’t bode well for fire crews from all of the local volunteer fire departments along with 40 members of the West Virginia Division of Forestry fire crew trying get a handle on the Keller Fire burning atop Cacapon Mountain on the property of Cacapon Resort State Park.
“They have about 65 percent containment making progress with backburns that have gone fairly well. They have a few small backburns to do on the north side of the fire and then they are going to move to the southern end,” Younker added.
The fire had consumed about 275 acres and is officially the largest forest fire in the history of Morgan County.
Currently the West Virginia Division of Forestry has about 40 firefighting personnel on the ground along with a number of local volunteer firemen. However, their manpower is now being divided after a second forest fire has broken out about five miles south of the main fire. The second fire is on private land on the west side of the same mountain. About 15 fire fighters from local fire departments have been dispatched to the area.
The West Virginia National Guard continues to have Blackhawk helicopters in the area running aerial water drop missions. The work has been effective in slowing the fire’s spread and helping ground crews get the upper hand and build and maintain fire lines.