THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 13, 1995 TAG: 9504130434
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SALEM LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
The cost of fighting forest fires in Virginia this spring has risen to $1 million, and the state Department of Forestry may bust its budget before the fall fire season even begins, officials said Wednesday.
The spring total is likely to continue growing for several reasons: Hundreds of firefighters remain on duty, another stretch of dry weather is expected before the spring ends, and portions of the burned areas will have to be rehabilitated.
As of Wednesday, about 1,140 fires on private land had burned an estimated 7,300 acres this year in Virginia, forestry department spokesman Lou Southard.
The estimated costs for the state through Tuesday have been $205,000 for aircraft use and $130,000 for wages, said Dave Stoner, the forestry department's fiscal director.
The General Assembly's allocation for the entire year is $230,000 for aircraft use and $255,000 for wages.
``I would imagine additional funds would be allocated if we go above that,'' Southard said of the remaining $150,000. ``We're not going to stop fighting fires if we run out of money.''
Another month is left in the three-month spring fire season, when an average of 65 percent of the year's forest fires on private and state land occur.
Until a decade ago, the forestry department had a revolving fire budget so that if money allocated in one year wasn't spent, it was put into a reserve for subsequent years when there was more firefighting activity. Since then, the agency has never had to ask the governor for additional firefighting funds, department spokesman Don Morton said.
In Craig County, about 800 firefighters from 12 states, along with about 200 administrators and support staffers, have worked to put out three fires that burned about 5,000 acres in the Jefferson National Forest.
The fires broke out Sunday, and 260 firefighters were sent home or to other fires outside Virginia on Tuesday and Wednesday, when the fires were contained.
The federal expenses through Tuesday were an estimated $650,000, said James Meredith, a finance section chief with the U.S. Forest Service. The money comes out of the fire suppression portion of the agency's Southeast region budget. The operation is unusually large, Meredith said. ``One thousand people in one location in the Southeast happens about twice every five years.''
There also have been small fires in other parts of the national forests in Virginia and in the Shenandoah National Park.
Crews in Craig County continued Wednesday to rake and shovel dirt to snuff out smoldering stumps and branches within the burned areas.
Next comes the rehabilitation work - planting grass and landscaping over 10 miles of fire line - a bare-dirt scar a yard or more wide - to prevent erosion and eliminate the eyesore.
There have been no reports of deaths or serious injuries caused by the fires or the firefighting efforts. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
During a rainstorm on Wednesday, hundreds of firefighters rested on
cots at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, headquarters for the crews
working on the Craig County blazes. The firefighters probably will
return to work today, when the rain is expected to end.
KEYWORDS: FOREST FIRES by CNB