By Debbie Hall
Local firefighters spent much of Monday battling a brush fire that was determined to have been started by accident, according to Jason McGhee, Patrick County Forest Warden.
The blaze was on Virginia State Rt. 57 about .10 mile east of the intersection of Goblintown Road and Goblintown Creek Road, McGhee said.
In addition to McGhee and his team from the Va. Forestry Dept., crews responding to the blaze included Fairystone Volunteer Fire Department, Woolwine Volunteer Fire Department, Patrick Springs Volunteer Fire Department, Stuart Volunteer Fire Department and Patrick-Henry Volunteer Fire Department, according to McGhee and Steve Allen, Emergency Services Coordinator.
The Smith River Rescue Squad also was on stand-by at the scene, and the Patrick County Sheriff’s Office responded.
Fire crews arrived at the scene around noon Monday and did not clear the scene until 5 p.m., Allen said.
The fire appears to have been started by accident, McGhee said.
“It looks like there was a person smoking a cigarette in a field” while trying to move some metal from an overgrown grassy area, McGhee said. “It appears that was where the fire originated,” he added.
The blaze “jumped a roadbed, a kind of a driveway area, and moved towards another house,” McGhee said. The home, an unoccupied single wide trailer, was considered a total loss, McGhee said.
The property owner is not being identified because no charges were filed, McGhee said. However, the property owner is liable for the costs associated with suppressing the fire, he added.
The rain shown in the short-term weather forecast will have no impact on the current 4 p.m. burn law, McGhee said of the law that went into effect February 15 and runs through April 30. It states no burning between midnight and 4 p.m. is permitted, if the fire is in, or within 300 feet of, woodland, brush land or fields containing dry grass or other flammable material.
Violators may face a number of charges, depending on the situation, McGhee said. As a result, fines, courts costs and fire suppressions costs vary.
Also, property owners are liable for suppressing costs “whether the fire is an accident or not,” McGhee said.
