Statewide Burn Ban Remains in Effect;
Halloween Celebrants Reminded to be Extra Cautious

In spite of the rainfall last week, Virginia’s forests are still dangerously dry and the statewide ban on burning remains in place, according to officials at the Virginia Department of Forestry.

Resource Protection Director John Miller said, “All of our drought and woody fuel moisture indices remain well above our 10-year average. In a nutshell, the rain merely pushed the Commonwealth from the ‘extreme’ level back to the ‘severe’ level in terms of wildfire potential. And ‘severe’ is not at all where we want to be at this time of the year!”

The long-term drought being experienced in the Commonwealth has had a significant impact on woody fuel moistures, soil moisture levels and water supply levels. Additional, significant rainfall is the only thing that can restore these three components to more favorable conditions.

Miller said, “We were very fortunate to have received the rainfall that we did at the end of last week. Unfortunately, more is still needed.”

Looking ahead, the next predicted chance of significant rain is not until the weekend of November 10th.

“This morning’s frost and the remaining leaf fall both work against us, in terms of the amount of new fuel on the ground,” Miller said. “The sunny and breezy conditions from this weekend are expected to continue through this week, and things are already favorable for the development of increased wildfire activity.”

Even with the rain that fell through Friday night, Virginia still had a wildfire Sunday and one on Monday. Each fire burned three acres. Since the fall fire season began October 15th, a total of 81 fires have burned 710 acres, damaging two homes and three structures.

With Halloween tomorrow night, citizens are reminded that the burn ban includes a prohibition on luminaries (paper sacks weighted down with sand with a burning candle inside).

The VDOF also asks that people be on the lookout for arsonists as the number of intentionally set fires tends to increase on Halloween.

“Arson is the second leading cause of wildland fires in Virginia,” Miller said. “The threat to life and property is tremendous. It’s a crime that we take very seriously.”

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The Virginia Department of Forestry protects and develops healthy, sustainable forest resources for Virginians. Headquartered in Charlottesville, there are Forestry staff members assigned to every county to provide service to citizens of the Commonwealth. VDOF is an equal opportunity provider.

With nearly 16 million acres of forest land and more than 184,000 Virginians employed in forestry, forest products and related industries, Virginia forests provide more than $29 Billion annually in benefits to the Commonwealth.