| Contact Information | Date |
|---|---|
| For Immediate Release Contact: John Campbell 434.220.9070 434.989.0665 |
Feb. 11, 2008 VDOF-08005 |
Sunday’s Wind Makes for Unusually High Number of Wildland Fires
More than 740 firefighters spent the better part of Sunday battling approximately 200 wildland fires that burned nearly 6,000 acres from Virginia Beach to Roanoke to Fairfax County. High winds, with gusts reaching nearly 75 mph, blew through Virginia snapping powerlines that sparked at least 18 of the blazes.
“These numbers are unheard of in Virginia – a record-setter for sure,” said John Miller, Virginia Department of Forestry’s director of resource protection. “Before yesterday, we hadn’t seen more than 88 fires – which is a lot – in one day. And the 6,000 acres is more than half of all the acres (11,200) that burned during all of last year!”
Firefighting resources were in short supply as the day wore on and numerous counties fought multiple fires. Two firefighters were injured during the suppression efforts. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine declared a state of emergency to help direct additional resources to aid in the effort.
Several large fires were still burning this morning in Dinwiddie, Roanoke, Bedford, Essex and Louisa counties. Parts of Interstate 81 near Roanoke and I-664 in Suffolk were closed for several hours due to heavy smoke that dropped visibility to near zero.
Firefighters from the Virginia Department of Forestry fought alongside hundreds of county/municipal and volunteer fire departments to contain the blazes that spread rapidly in the high winds.
“Unfortunately, even the best efforts of these brave folks were not enough to prevent the loss of six homes,” said Miller. “So much of wildland firefighting is weather-dependent, and the combination of high winds, low humidity and the lingering drought created the perfect fire storm.”
Note: Because of the number of fires still burning, final tallies are not yet available but will be released as soon as they are reported. All numbers presented represent wildland fires that occurred on privately owned or state lands (no federal lands).
-30-
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.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]