Forest Fires Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

W.Va. Outdoor Burning Ban Now In Effect

West Virginia Division of Forestry guidelines say outdoor burning is prohibited during the daytime hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

To prevent forest or brush fires, statewide restrictions on outdoor burning are in effect from now until December 31st.

West Virginia Division of Forestry guidelines say outdoor burning is prohibited during the daytime hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. If burning has occurred during permitted hours the fire must be completely extinguished by 7 a.m.

All fires must have a ring or safety strip around them that is fully cleared and at least 10 feet wide. Fires must be attended until completely extinguished.

Only vegetative materials such as leaves, brush and yard clippings are permitted to be burnt.

If operating spark-throwing machinery such as power shovels or sawmills on land subject to fire, that machinery must contain an adequate spark arrestor.

A landowner must take all practicable means to suppress any fire on his property. If he or she fails to do so, the state will collect the amounts spent to put the fire out..

Fines for forest fires due to negligence range from $100 to $1,000

West Virginia Foresters Receive Funds For Fire Fighting Equipment

Gov. Jim Justice signed Senate Bill 1032 into law Monday at the West Virginia Division of Forestry Region 4 headquarters in Beckley. The law will provide $4 million for new forestry wildland firefighting equipment.

The department lost funding in 2019 when the West Virginia Legislature cut severance tax collection on state timber. Assistant State Forester Jeremy Jones said state of the art fire suppression gear will help counter an ever-growing wildfire danger.

“This historic investment will provide severely needed modernization to our wildfire program and our equipment,” Jones said.

Justice also announced that Forestry’s Region 4 headquarters will be renamed in honor of Cody Mullens, a young forestry employee who was killed by a falling tree while fighting a wildland fire earlier this year and worked out of that office.

Governor Issues Outdoor Burning Ban

To reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires due to drought, Gov. Jim Justice has banned all outdoor burning throughout West Virginia, effective Monday, April 17, 2023.

Dry and windy weather conditions expected in the coming days and an increasing potential for forest fires prompted the move. The National Weather Service – Charleston issued a Special Weather Statement for a High Fire Danger Threat.

The ban will be in effect until conditions improve and the governor rescinds the order by further proclamation.

The order makes it unlawful for any person in the state to engage in outdoor burning, including fires built for camping, the burning of debris, or warming.

The following items are excluded from the restrictions:

Fires for the purpose of chemical production, where fire is essential to operation.
Fires for commercial land-clearing, such as mining, highway construction, and development provided that a permit is obtained from the Division of Forestry prior to burning.
Training fires conducted under the direct control and supervision of qualified instructors at a training facility operated by a fire department or government entity provided that a permit is obtained from the Division of Forestry prior to burning.
Fires for outdoor cooking conducted for fund-raising events and charitable organizations provided that a water source capable of extinguishing the fire is present and a permit is obtained from the Division of Forestry prior to the operation.
Liquid fueled gas grills, lanterns or liquid-fueled gas fire stoves.

Justice has instructed the Division of Forestry to enact a forest fire readiness plan and to enforce the ban on burning as outlined in W.Va. Code §20-1-1, et seq.

“This year, we have experienced a significant period of low humidity and below average rainfall,” Acting West Virginia Division of Forestry Director and State Forester Tony Evans said. “Since Jan. 1, we have experienced 654 different fires in the state, and a current total of 4,121 acres burned. This ban helps ensure we are doing everything we can to protect the public, our forests, and private property from the damage that can occur from a forest fire.”

The order directs the Division of Forestry and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to provide continuous information to the governor and the public regarding forest conditions.

Additionally, the proclamation orders the Division of Natural Resources, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the Department of Homeland Security, and the State Police to cooperate in the enforcement of this ban.

View the full proclamation.

Watch For Forest Fires From Fireworks, Warns Forest Service

The Fourth of July holiday is a time to get outdoors and have fun in the national forests in West Virginia. But wildlife managers say to leave fireworks at home. Possessing, igniting, discharging or using any kind of fireworks is prohibited on national forest system lands.

“Setting off fireworks in the forest is not only illegal, it is also a hazardous activity that can lead to injury and wildfires,” said Aaron Kendall, fire management officer for the Monongahela National Forest. “We encourage forest visitors to enjoy public fireworks displays in one of the communities in and around West Virginia.”

Eric Douglas spoke with Kendall to talk about fireworks and fire danger.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Douglas: Fireworks of any kind are illegal on national public lands. We’re talking even sparklers as much as stuff that goes flying up in the air.

Kendall: That’s correct. Whether they’re handheld or they’re aerial or anything along those lines out there, they’re all illegal. Most of the country, and even here in West Virginia, can be very dry. And one simple spark from any of that could start a very devastating wildfire.

Douglas: What is the fire danger right now?

Kendall: It depends. Generally in the whole state it’s what you would consider moderate in our scale, but there are some areas that are shadowed from the rain. Here in the Elkins area, we have a lot of rain, and so it’s a little less likely to have some type of wildfire, but you go just a little bit to the east of us, on the other side of ridge over towards Petersburg, or White Sulphur Springs on that side of the forest and it’s a different story. They don’t get nearly as much precipitation. The fire danger can change more rapidly down there.

Douglas: What would be your message to people, not in national forest lands, but in their backyard or out in the woods somewhere?

Kendall: You want to make sure you are doing it in a safe way so you’re going to be able to enjoy it, and hopefully not cause any injury or any type of fire. Obviously, it’s best to be under adult supervision at all times when fireworks are being used.

More importantly, from a fire aspect, you want to make sure that if you’re going to be setting off anything that has some type of spark or flame, that is done in a clear area that’s devoid of vegetation so that if it does fall over or hit the ground that it’s not going to spark a fire. Having some type of water source on hand is also very important. Whether you’ve got a hose or a bucket, or whatever you have, so that if you do have something that starts, you’re able to extinguish them quickly.

Some towns also have different policies from the state. Check with your local officials before attempting to set off fireworks.

The public should call 911 in case of emergency; incidents in the forest can also be reported via the Mid-Atlantic Coordination Center 24-hour dispatch line at (717) 980-3230.

The use or possession of fireworks on public lands is subject to confiscation and fines of up to $5,000 for an individual, $10,000 for an organization and/or up to six months in jail. In addition, anyone found responsible for starting a wildfire can be held civilly and criminally liable.

New Novel Set Against Backdrop Of Forest Fires, Opioid Epidemic

David Joy is an award-winning author from the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. His latest novel, “When These Mountains Burn,” is set against the backdrop of the 2016 forest fires that tore through the region, as well as the opioid epidemic that is still destroying communities around him.

In the book, Joy looks at how different communities are responding to the epidemic, from the white mountain community where his characters live, to the nearby Eastern Band of Cherokee tribal community that takes a more supportive approach.

Joy spoke with Eric Douglas about the new book.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Douglas: Tell me a little bit about this new novel.

Joy: Well, the book is set during 2016. It is very specifically set when all of the forest fires were ripping apart, especially the southern part Appalachia, but stretching on the upper end into Kentucky. I think most people nationally are probably familiar with what happened to Gatlinburg. But the truth is, we’d been experiencing fires, at that point, for two or three months. So it is set very specifically during that time, partly because of the election as well.

I think metaphorically that moment in time, honest to God, felt like the world was ending for a lot of us. The story deals with the opioid epidemic. You’ve got a father whose son is an addict. He’s doing everything he can to try and save his kid, but not really succeeding at that. And then we have another character who is an addict. It’s kind of these two lives running side by side for a while and then they intersect.

Douglas: Why did you choose to write a story about the opioid epidemic?

Joy: At the time it became an un-ignorable reality of my day-to-day life. I was living in a house where I was maybe 100 yards away from a dope house where a lot of the heroin in the county where I lived was moving through that house. I had addicts in the front yard on a weekly, if not daily, basis. I had addicts knocking on the door. You would go to town and you’d step out of your truck at the post office and the parking lot would be filled with needles.

Douglas: For you, this book was fiction, but it is set in the existence outside your window.

Joy: All the novels I’ve written have been set very specifically in Jackson County (North Carolina) where I live and have largely been about drug use and addiction. Part of that is my own history and how I grew up where I grew up. Part of that, too, is the reality of this place for a whole lot of people who live here.

Douglas: What do you hope your readers get from the book?

Joy: I don’t know. I think that’s a difficult question. I don’t ever really set out with any major goal in mind. I want readers to be entertained and I want them to think. Maybe that’s a question I can answer. I want them to think about the way that most communities are choosing to address the opioid epidemic. I want them to think about what’s happening to our culture, whether that be the culture that’s taking place right outside my door, or whether that is downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, where historically black neighborhoods are being ripped apart by white folks who want to live closer to the city. You know that gentrification and that death of culture isn’t something that’s happening in one place or another. It’s happening all over and I want people to pay attention to those things, because I think they’re important.

Douglas: This was the first of your books that I’ve read, but I’m taking from your descriptions that all of your books have a story, but they’re also set up against a backdrop of societal issues that you want to discuss.

Joy: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. They asked James Joyce why he only wrote about Dublin and he said, “Because if I can get to the heart of Dublin, I can get to the heart of every city in the world.” Or it’s that Eudora Welty notion that, “One place understood helps us understand all places better.”

The reality is, I can’t write a novel about New York City or Paris because I don’t know nothing about it. But I can write a novel about this place. And the same things that are affecting people everywhere else in this country, and in this world, are affecting people here.

David Joy’s new book “When These Mountains Burn” is now available through Penguin/Random House. This is the 36-year-old writer’s fifth novel, all of which are set in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina he calls home.

This story is part of a series of interviews with authors from, or writing about, Appalachia.

West Virginia Governor Lifts Ban On Outdoor Burning

West Virginia’s ban on outdoor burning is officially over.

Gov. Jim Justice rescinded the ban on Wednesday after the state received sufficient rainfall over the past several days.

The burning of forestland, grass and other inflammable materials is now allowed between the hours of 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Small fires for cooking, light or warmth are also allowed.

He says the fall burning season usually starts on Oct. 1 but was postponed due to drought conditions that caused the governor to declare a state of emergency. The state of emergency is still in effect, and the governor is asking the public to limit water usage.