Piney Creek Volunteer Firemen Allen Souther and Colt Kilby work to saw up a log so that it can be extinguished during a fire call off Piney Creek School Road on Sunday. Numerous fire departments were busy that day extinguishing fires that were mostly caused by high winds bringing down trees on power lines.

High winds Sunday down trees, contribute to fires

At least three fires were sparked by trees falling on electric power lines on Sunday, while two other fires were also whipped by the winds. The fires left every county department, and some departments from other counties that came here to assist, busy in either responding to the blazes or backing up other departments.

A total of four fires were reported on Sunday, including one in Cherry Lane and three in Piney Creek district. In addition, another fire was reported in Cherry Lane early Monday morning.

Oklahoma Road Blaze

Acting Cherry Lane Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mark Miles said his department received its first fire call on Oklahoma Road at around 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 10.

The fire started when a tree fell on a power line, he said. The high winds quickly whipped the blaze into a forest fire. A total of about five acres were scorched.

Volunteer firefighters from Traphill, Glade Creek and Sparta- Alleghany were called in to assist, along with the N.C. Forest Service. Also dispatched was State Road Volunteer Fire Department, but that department had another call to a structure fire in its own district while in route to the fire and was unable to assist, Miles said. No houses or other structures were endangered by the blaze, which started in a wooded area, he added.

While the fire started in a wooded area, firemen were able to access much of it from the roadway and knock it down fairly quickly. Miles said pumper trucks could be put to bear against the blaze-those trucks can deliver more water to the fire more quickly than the smaller brush trucks that typically are used to battle brush fires in off-road locations. Even with the pumper trucks on hand, the winds that gusted as high as 60 miles per hour fanned the blaze and made putting out the fire difficult.

"We fought it hard," he said. "The wind caused it to cross the road, but we had enough men to keep it under control."

 

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