Area firefighters battle brush fire

A brush fire in the Valley High Timber Farms subdivision last Wednesday spread to nearly seven acres before it was contained by area firefighters.

The fire call came in around 2 p.m. on December 14 for a brush fire on Hilda Lane off Gamble Road, said Captain Matt Grimley of the Great Cacapon Volunteer Fire Company. It was called in by CSX workers who were working on the railroad tracks.

There were no structures endangered. The area on fire was just woods, he said.

When they arrived on the scene, there was a pretty large area burning—around four to four and a half acres— and it was working its way
up the mountain, Grimley said.

It took firefighters around an hour and a half to get completely around the blaze and contain it, he said. It was very rough terrain and hard to access. They had to make roads to get to the fire. Many brush trucks from area fire companies assisted.

Units responded from Great Cacapon, Berkeley Springs, Paw Paw, South Morgan, Slanesville and Hancock Volunteer Fire Companies. Division of Forestry personnel were also at the scene.

The brush fire burned all the leaves and vegetation off the acreage, which was mostly scrub brush and fall foliage, Grimley didn’t think it harmed the timber. The land was part of an area that burned in the 1970’s, he said.

Units were on the scene until 6 or 6:30 p.m. The cause of the fire is undetermined, Grimley said.