West Virginia fire departments brace for high risk of wildfires this fall

MOOREFIELD, Wv. (WHSV) – Six months after wildfires spread across the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia, the Mountain State is preparing for a fall season with a high risk of more wildfires due to dry conditions.

Moorefield Volunteer Fire Company Chief Doug Mongold said some counties in southern West Virginia already have burn bans in place, and he expects more counties to follow suit.

“I think the biggest fear now is because it’s been such a dry summer, and it looks like to me it’s going to be an early fall, the leaves are already falling from the trees,” Mongold said. “That’s a big problem with leaves falling already — that just increases the fire fuel if there is a fire.”

Mongold said he encourages people around West Virginia not to burn unless they absolutely have to.

“If they don’t have to burn, just don’t burn at all. If you have to burn with a campfire or whatever, just make sure you have the perimeter around it cleared and you have water there in case something does go wrong,” Mongold said. “If you have any fire at all, call the fire department and at least get them started, because the sooner you catch [it] the better chance you have of putting it out. So, just be diligent in doing those things.”

Beyond raising awareness and encouraging fire safety, Mongold said there is not much local fire departments can do to prepare for possible fall wildfires. However, he said there are now more resources available on the state level.

“On the state level, it appears that they’ve been doing some stuff and came up with some money. Now I see that State Forestry has dozers and some new side-by-sides with firefighting equipment on the back, such as tanks and hose reels and that kind of stuff,” Mongold said.

While volunteer numbers around the nation have declined for volunteer fire companies Mongold said that Moorefield has been fortunate to maintain a good number of volunteers.

“We still have a good number of people compared to a lot of departments, but when you get on a fire that’s a couple days long, you deplete those very quickly because those people still have to work and that kind of stuff. So, it gets a little tough sometimes,” he said.

Nevertheless, Mongold said fire departments around the region and state agencies did learn from the wildfires in the spring.

“I think there could be better communication between all the agencies involved, whether it’s the state forestry, the state office of emergency management and the 911 centers,” Mongold said. “We were wanting satellite view maps of the area so you can see ‘Maybe we can go in over here.’ We’ll be better prepared if it happens again. We’ve got better resources to get those kinds of things, but working together and communicating better will definitely help that.”

Mongold stressed that if you see any smoke or signs of fire, make sure to call 911.

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