A brushfire charred the ground and sent up smoke that could be seen for miles around. According to a G.P.S. point perimeter reading it covered around 115 acres.
The fire, which is still under investigation, is thought to have started between 1:45 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. Monday, April 6 and began in the Cortland Road area a quarter mile north of Beall Lane on the East side of the road.
Captain Bob Metzger of the Canaan Valley Volunteer Fire Department was on site within two minutes of receiving the call and within ten minutes Chief Sandy Green was on location with a tanker equipped with a deck gun. Within those few minutes due to the dryness of the ground cover, the fire had grown exponentially. While it was mainly a grass fire it did char some trees and a couple of utility poles.
Even though there was no structural damage the flames did come within two-tenths of a mile to a home.
Ron Hollis, Project Leader (Manager) of Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge said: “The fear was the wind would shift and make a switch toward Black Bear Resort.”
The fire sent up smoke that was visible not only to the naked eye for miles around but was also picked up by Forestry Service cameras on Beardon Knob. The cameras showed no smoke at 1:45 p.m. but then showed one and possibly a second smoke bloom by 2 p.m. Several witnesses in the area reported hearing what sounded like a muffled explosion followed by power outages. Full time resident Dr. Joe Henry puts the time of the sound and brief power outages around 12:40 p.m. The puzzling thing was that there are no transformers in the area where the fire is believed to have started. Lightning was also thought to be a possibility but upon being asked for confirmation, the national weather service said they had no record of lightning strikes in the area at that time but could not say with a hundred percent certainty that it wasn’t lightning however. Fireworks, car back-fire, cigarette, all are just speculations at this point.
One thing for certain though, over a several hour period it took the combined efforts of many to control the blaze and keep it from becoming something far worse. Tucker 911, Canaan Valley Volunteer Fire Department, as well as volunteer departments from Davis, Harman, Parsons, Thomas, and Whitmer. Responders from the Tucker County E.M.S. as well as Sheriff’s Department, and Department of Highways all helped in various capacities. Representatives from the West Virginia Division of Forestry, the U.S. Forest Service, W.V. State Parks, as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service all lent a hand.
The blaze was pretty well under control about 4:30 p.m.but crews stayed on site until dark and the rain set in. The next day members of the US Forest Service combed the area looking for hot spots until about 2 p.m.
