THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 20, 1995 TAG: 9507200381
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
Firefighters put themselves between a brush fire and 15 homes Wednesday afternoon and, by evening, had stalled advancing flames before they could reach the structures.
There were still substantial losses, however, as the blaze tore through an estimated 150 acres of crops and young forest off the 2800 block of Copeland Road, between Holland Road and Whaleyville Boulevard.
``We were able to cut it off before it was able to get to the houses,'' said Lt. Jeff Messinger, a Fire Department spokesman.
That was good news for the residents, who had been warned to be ready to leave. The Fire Department had vehicles standing by to carry the residents out if the flames had gotten past fire lines.
``We had them mobilized to leave on a moment's notice,'' Messinger said.
More than 40 firefighters from the Suffolk Fire Department and the Whaleyville, Chuckatuck and Holland volunteer fire departments battled the blaze, which was reported about 4 p.m.
Two bulldozers from the Virginia Division of Forestry were brought in to assist in cutting fire lines. By nightfall the blaze was being brought under control both by cutting lines against it and by using backfires.
Most of the city and volunteer firefighters were being sent home late Wednesday, although a few fire trucks were to remain on the scene overnight as a precaution and to assist the forestry crews if needed.
The Nansemond-Suffolk Rescue Squad treated some firefighters for minor injuries.
Messinger said the fire burned through a field of soybeans and destroyed many new pine and hardwood trees planted in an area that was cut a few years ago.
He called the losses ``significant,'' but a dollar value was not immediately available.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation. There were no storms in the area at the time, so lightning is not suspected.
KEYWORDS: FOREST FIRE SUFFOLK by CNB