Local crews continue to battle blazes across southern West Virginia
CLEAR CREEK, WV (WVNS) — Fire season happens twice a year for the state of West Virginia.
With over 12 million acres of forested land across the state, there is a lot of ground to cover for state crews sent out to battle the blazes.
Spruce Mountain has already had multiple fires in the 2024 fire season with many acres burned.
Mark Hudnall, a Raleigh County Service Forester, said though these fires are difficult to get under control, the weather can help.
“The fire’s currently approximately fifty acres. And the rain helped us out yesterday and we’re here today with about a five-man crew to put containment lines in,” said Hudnall.
Fires continue across multiple Mountain State counties
The fire in question started on the morning of Tuesday, March 26, 2024.
The containment lines help move unburned material away from the fire in order to create lines of packed earth that the fire will hopefully not jump in order to suppress the flames.
The bare condition of the trees plays a big part in how quickly things dry out and how fast the fires spread.
People in the community can help avoid these blazes, though.
“Be careful burning. You know, it’ll dry out a little bit more and then we’re supposed to get some more rain this weekend. But in the meantime, we’re gonna try and shore up the lines on the fires that we’ve had. So that they’ll no longer be an issue when we pick up more,” said Hudnall.
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