Isn't that missing woman in the Shenandoah area?

It's only supposed to be like, a sprinkle, and if the wind picks up...

It's pretty bananas at the moment.

A lot of people is asking that same question, what with this manmade fire.

 

They found her car at A trailhead, though it was a few miles from where this fire started. It's definitely going to hinder search efforts

It's April, alright.

We've been unusually dry in the southern Shenandoah.  I'm surprised we haven't seen more fires.

The view from my house from a couple years back ...

maybe she started the fire to get help...

Rocky Mount is more than a hundred miles away from where they found her car.

It's been raining like crazy in Tidewater. Maybe you guys will get some of that instead.

Hope it leads to her but seems like just a coincidence.

Thirty miles, but your point stands.

 

Forrest fire burn offs were normal about every 7 years in virginia until humans stopped it. The fire is great for oak trees and such. The fast growing species like cedar tend to die in a forest fire. Oaks have a deep strong root system. After the fire is over, the ground is prime for the oaks to recover and get going. The cedars have to start over.

The thread title says Rocky Mount.  That's in between Roanoke and Martinsville.

Yeah, I was confused by this too. Looks like we have two Rocky Mounts.

Yeah sorry, the fire is ON Rocky Mount IN the Shenandoah National Park, not in the City of Rocky Mount, thread title edited, apologies for confusion.

 

"I am the walrus"  That's what Lenin said.

I'd say ride it out and then claim your piece of Shennendoah like a true forest captain.  

The Rocky Mount fire burns in Shenandoah National Park, seen from McGaheysville, Va., on the night of April 19. (Larry W. Brown)

A wildfire in Shenandoah National Park nearly doubled in size on Tuesday, thanks to strong winds and low humidity. The National Park Service says the blaze, named the Rocky Mount fire, has charred 4,000 5,600 acres — up from a little over 2,000 acres on Monday night.

“I can speak with full confidence that the structures around the park are protected,” said John Miller, the Virginia Department of Forestry state wildland fire chief, but the National Park Service has fire suppression responsibility within the park itself.

Miller says the Virginia Department of Forestry has been creating fire lines with bulldozers to prevent it from spreading. “Dozer lines,” as they’re called, are created using a bulldozer to dig out the flammable vegetation. What’s left behind is a wide line of dirt that the fire cannot easily spread beyond, though particularly intense fires in very windy conditions can often jump these lines.

Press Release from Southern Area Incident Management:
Apr 20, 2016 2:54 PM EDT


Current Status:

The Southern Area Incident Management (Red) Team joined unified command today with the Shenandoah National Park and the Virginia Department of Forestry on the Rocky Mtn Fire 2016 burning in the Shenandoah National Park.

The fire is suspected to be human caused, but remains under investigation. Late yesterday afternoon, the Rocky Mtn Fire had an 80-100 acre slop-over on the east side of Skyline Drive near mile marker 76.

Since yesterday, the total fire acres have grown to approximately 5,600. A firing operation was conducted yesterday to burn vegetation near the Beldor Hollow Community to help contain the fire to that area.

Crews are confident that the fire will hold at Beldor Hollow Rd. The fire progressed south near Brown Mountain Trail and was active overnight near 2 Mile Run Lane. The Virginia Department of Forestry crews monitored the area overnight.

Fire crews are providing structure protection near 2 Mile Run and Lam Hollow communities. The weather remains dry today; however, a cold front is expected to bring a chance of rain on Friday. The fire is burning in mountain laurel, pine, and oak forests with heavy leaf litter.


Planned Events:

Today crews are actively suppressing the slop-over in the area of Skyline Drive. Crews continue to hold the containment line at Beldor Hollow Rd. and are mopping up in that area.

Crews are working to complete a handline to tie into the dozer line for containment along the western park boundary.

Priorities are structure protection and containing the fire within the boundaries of the park, west of Skyline Drive, east of 2 Mile Run community, and west of Beldor Hollow fire road to minimize impacts to private lands.


Closures:

•Appalachian Trail is closed from Doyles River Overlook (mile 82) to Powell Gap (mile 70)
•Rockytop Trail
•Rocky Mount Trail
•Big Run Loop
•Gap Run Trail
•Austin Mountain Trail
•Onemile Run Trail
•Lewis Peak Trail
•Brown Mountain Trail
•Patterson Ridge Trail
•Big Run Portal Trail
•Madison Run Spur
•Rocky Mountain Run Trail
•Madison Run Fire Road


Personnel: 248


Equipment:: 2 Type 2 Helicopters, 2 Type 3 Helicopters, 6 engines, 2 fixed wing air tankers


Cooperators: National Park Service, Virginia Department of Forestry, Rockingham County Department of Fire and Rescue, USDA Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Grottoes Volunteer Fire Department.


Fire Weather: Dry cold front moved through the area last night bringing a wind shift out of the easterly direction.  Smoke may drift over the Shenandoah Valley.  Mostly sunny with high temperature around 66°F and lows in the mid-40s °F. Relative humidity is 21-26%. Easterly winds are expected today at 3-5 mph.

Get out there and doing your own burnout operations, the LEO's and FFs will thankyou later.







Ok don't do that, but I wish you and your neighbors the best of luck, stay safe.

My ex wife lives closer (by about 10 miles) to the fire than I, said she last night she could see it and had to shut the windows due to smoke in her house. It's MUCH worse today.

We're dealing with about 10 small fires in east TN. Over half of them are arson.

I am nervous about this years fire season.

The wildfire page I monitor is only updated on Fridays, so I didn't even know this was a thing.  I'm close enough that I should be able to see the smoke based on column height, but I'm guessing atmospheric haze is obscuring everything, especially since I'm south of all of this.

It's much too dry right now - need some rain in this part of VA.

Death penalty.

 

There were a few of us (see War_face's post) a couple of ridges over when the shit got started Saturday. We saw it when we got back to the car. I hope they catch the fucker but it was probably some asshole's cigarette. I hiked the trail it got started on last year.

 

Eta: we were on that brown mnt/rocky run loop (shown on the map above) on saturday. That whole area of the park is one of my favorites.

The satellite image I saw of it was showing the plume blowing southeast across Charlottesville the last couple of days. I smelled smoke around Richmond yesterday or Monday but we have had some fires of our own so I am not sure if it was related or not.

 

Her car was found on brp or Skyline, IIRC.  Three separate fires going, 5k acres as of 5pn news.

60ish percent chance of rain on Friday, hopefully that'll help some.

I wondered about this myself. I wasn't sure exactly how far the two incidents were apart before but thirty miles really isn't that much over two or three days of hiking (the girl went missing wed. or thurs. Before the fire). So to me its plausible they are connected but unlikely.

 

Smoky mountains.

LOL.  Wait a minute.  Are you talking about your Smokey Mountains, or our smokey mountains?

Has it been determined the fire was caused by humans?

Was not a lightning strike.

Fuck yeah.  Please, please pick me!!!  This single resource needs the OT and hazard pay!!!

They found the missing woman. it's a recovery and not a rescue, sadly.

I'm supposed to come camp at Endless Caverns tomorrow and it's calling for about a quarter inch of rain tomorrow and tomorrow night.

Not for certain. The park service said they strongly suspect it. It was a clear sunny day and there isn't anything electrical or mechanical (that I can remember) along that ridgeline the fire started on.