Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 10, 1995 TAG: 9504110072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
To the left, on the next ridge, an orange ooze crept down the mountain. To the right, just over the small hill where two rusted cars sat, flames leaped as high as the pine trees.
For the moment, Huffman's small gray house, which sits just above Virginia 311 in Craig County, was safe. Fire crews from Mason Cove and other teams had managed to bulldoze a fire line to block the blaze on the right from reaching the crest of the hill.
As the sun set behind a gray haze of smoke, residents who live at the base of North and Broad Run mountains were watching the line of fire move closer to their homes.
By Sunday night, many people living on 311 had been warned to prepare for evacuation. A few who lived on Virginia 621, just off 311, were evacuated temporarily.
Fire crews hosed down homes to keep flying sparks from catching.
Forest officials are now calling the fires, two of which began Saturday in the Cove Mountain and John's Creek areas, the Castle Complex. By Sunday evening, the fires had destroyed about 1,000 acres in Craig County.
High winds and severely dry conditions have helped spread the fire. Where fire had once stayed to the south side of 311, residents said, sparks had leapt over the road and caught on the other side. The Craig Sheriff's Department blocked off 311 at the Roanoke County line for part of the evening to allow fire trucks to battle flames from the road.
Huffman said that in the 30 years he's lived there, he never thought something like this could threaten his home.
"But you never know with a forest this dry - as dry as powder," he said.
About 200 firefighters from as far away as Wyoming were on the scene, said Forest Service information officer Nadine Pollock.
Crews from Roanoke County munched on hamburgers brought in from the Hardee's emergency van and watched the fire line creep closer to 311's tar surface.
"We'll be here all night," one crew member said. "If it keeps going, it'll go all the way down [Catawba] Valley for sure."
Vernon Allie Jr., stood nearby, hoping the flames would stop before reaching his five acres at the base of North Mountain. A station wagon packed with his three children's clothes sat waiting in the driveway.
Allie worried about the gas tank, owned by Highland Propane, just a half-mile down 311.
"There won't be no sleep tonight, that's for sure," he said.
Another fire was ravaging 65 acres in Franklin County, just a few miles from the Rocky Mount Courthouse.
The fire, which began about 3 p.m. in the Doe Run section, was still not under control late Sunday, the Franklin County Sheriff's Department said.
Residents living on Power Dam Road were evacuated but no homes had been damaged.
by CNB