By Rex Springston
Richmond Times-Dispatch
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia’s fall wildfire season is shaping up to be one of the worst on record, experts say.
Most of the state is so dry that conditions are approaching those of 1934, when Virginia suffered its worst fall fire season, said John Miller, fire chief for the state Department of Forestry.
“Everything else being equal, we are set up for this to be a very bad fall fire season,” Miller said yesterday.
California is now suffering extensive wildfires, but stronger winds and lower humidity there make the fire threat greater than in Virginia, Miller said.
No firefighters have been sent to California, in part because they may be needed in Virginia, Miller said.
Virginia’s fall fire season, when brown leaves and warm, dry weather aid burning, runs from Oct. 15 to Nov. 30. There is also a wildfire season in spring.
Virginia’s last bad fall season — the second-worst since record-keeping began in 1925 — came in 2001, when more than 1,200 fires burned nearly 15,000 acres.
The ground is drier now, but there has been more publicity about this drought, and that may encourage people to take measures that help prevent forest fires and protect their homes, Miller said.
About 62 percent of Virginia is wooded, and people are increasingly building homes in forests.
Doug Coleman, who runs a nonprofit foundation, lives in a home just 50 feet from a woods near Roseland in Nelson County.
Coleman said he would consider taking actions such as installing sprinklers in his yard if the leaves continue to drop and get dry and little rain falls to dampen them.
“That would ratchet up my concern,” he said.
Virginia’s worst fall fire season came in 1934, when about 3,000 fires burned about 200,000 acres, fire chief Miller said.
Forests are more fragmented now by development, and firefighters are more modern and faster to respond, making that sort of devastation unlikely now, Miller said.
This fall could be the worst fire season since 1934, but signs point to a season similar to 2001, he said.
Predicting wildfires is extremely difficult. “One rain at the right time can really change things dramatically,” Miller said.
Since Oct. 15, 74 fires have burned nearly 700 acres across Virginia, a rate slightly higher than normal, Miller said.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine ordered a statewide ban Friday on most open fires. A similar ban also was in effect in 2001, Miller said.
To prepare for this season, the forestry department has alerted employees to be available to respond quickly to wildfires.
Forestry officials also are spreading the word about ways to prevent fires and protect homes.
Federal agencies have made firefighters available to move quickly, if needed, to the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, which include more than 1 million acres in western Virginia.
Chris Rose, a spokesman for the Washington and Jefferson forests, said conditions are unusually bad there for wildfires.
Meanwhile, the weekly crop and weather report from the Virginia Agricultural Statistics Service yesterday showed farming conditions around Virginia continued to worsen last week, with the amount of topsoil classified as very short in moisture increasing by a point to 56 percent.
In Accomack County on the Eastern Shore, it was too dry to plant winter wheat and have it germinate.
Copyright 2007 Richmond Times - Dispatch
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News