ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 26, 1996 TAG: 9604260075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA
A child's firecracker likely started a fire that burned about 5 acres of woodland Thursday at Claytor Lake State Park, according to the chief Pulaski County forest warden.
David Cooper said the fire began about 10:45 a.m. while a group of Woodrow Wilson Middle School students hiked on the Claytor Lake Trail on the lake's north side. One of the Roanoke children had brought firecrackers on the hike, which passed through woods damaged by the 1994 ice storms.
No one was injured in the fire, which burned mostly at ground level. But firefighters from the Newbern Volunteer Fire Department still were trying to extinguish the fire at 7 p.m., and several more hours of work remained.
Newbern Fire Chief Miller Farris said that without a road leading to the site, firefighters had to hike about a mile into the woods to work.
"Everything's been rakes and bulldozers so far," Farris said early in the evening.
It was 6 p.m. before a bulldozer cleared a rough road for fire vehicles and water reached the fire.
Farris said a bulldozer was used to create a fire line early in the day when the fire covered about an acre. The fire jumped the line a couple of times, aided by 30 mph wind gusts.
LENGTH: Short : 33 linesby CNB