ROANOKE, Va. – After battling fierce flames for days, firefighters have gained the upper hand on the wildfires raging in Roanoke County. Two wildfires ignited over the weekend in Roanoke County, tearing through hundreds of acres and keeping fire crews working around the clock.
Stuart Songer, a local resident, described the scene, saying, “The entire evening there were a bunch of emergency vehicles going up and down Filly Court here and this neighbor’s driveway, and the firefighters were able to make it up there. You could see their lights and them getting it under control.”
According to the Virginia Department of Forestry, the Brush Mountain fire scorched nearly 500 acres and is still under investigation. The fire near Hanging Rock started due to a downed power line and was fully contained at 85 acres. However, the work doesn’t stop once the flames are out.
Community Outreach Coordinator Brian Clingenpeel of Roanoke County Fire and Rescue said, “We always make sure we call it the mop up after a fire like this, and it’s just making sure that everything is out and we aren’t going to start any spot fires. We want to make sure it’s completely out because the weather conditions are still ripe for this kind of thing.”
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Roanoke County Fire & Rescue teams also spent the weekend focusing on structure protection for homes near the Brush Mountain fire.
Stuart Songer, who has lived in the area for more than a decade, noted that this is the first time a fire has come this close to his home.
He said he was watching the fire in his front yard. “Later on in the evening, we saw our first actual flames, and then we were starting to worry a bit more. And with the fires, you just never know. Because it seems especially with the wind, it’s almost impossible to get them to stop. So we were worried, and until it seemed to be completely gone, I never got my hopes up.”
Even as the fires are contained, the danger still lingers. Brian Clingenpeel warned, “Where the relative humidities are low, the air is very dry, and the winds pick up, and that’s what makes this such a dangerous fire weather.”
Fire crews say they’ll continue to monitor the fire risks throughout the week.
Department of Forestry link to fires in our area: fiResponse - Public Viewer
