
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 18, 1994                   TAG: 9408180104
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press RICHMOND
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FEMA UNVEILS PREVENTION PLAN

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced details Wednesday of a nearly $3 million grant to Virginia to help prevent forest fires that could be fueled by debris from last winter's severe ice storms.

Virginia is one of three states receiving money to guard against forest fires as a result of the February and March storms that froze much of the Southeast, FEMA officials said. Mississippi is getting a $2.8 million grant; a package for Arkansas has been approved, but its dollar amount remains under review, said FEMA spokesman Carl Suchocki in Washington.

Most Virginia forest fires burn only a few acres, and there has not been a blaze in recent memory in which anyone was killed or injured, said Don T. Morton, fire management chief for the Virginia Department of Forestry. But forests and woodlands are at a much higher risk for fires over the next few years because of the large amount of combustible debris and fallen trees left over from the storms, Morton said.

Rita A. Calvan, FEMA's regional director for Virginia, said the agency wanted to help ward off any potential threat to state residents and their property.

``The winter weather business is not something that FEMA is usually in,'' Calvan said at a Richmond news conference. FEMA's involvement ``is a testament to how bad the weather really was.''

In March, FEMA gave the state about $1.6 million in emergency funding for such things as firefighting tractors and bulldozers and aerial detection equipment to guard against possible spring fires. FEMA officials said Wednesday that Virginia would get an additional $1.3 million for a Hummer off-road vehicle, helicopter surveillance service, and public education campaigns for this fall's and next spring's fire seasons.

All FEMA grants require a matching allocation of at least 25 percent by the state.

The one-year fire prevention package, to be administered by the state Department of Emergency Services, brings to more than $29 million in disaster assistance FEMA has provided the state, its localities and nonprofit entities because of the storms.

There have been about 1,200 forest fires so far this year on private, state and locally owned land in Virginia, Morton said. That's about on par with Virginia's normal rate.

Each fire averaged about 21/2 acres, Morton said.

by CNB