By Stephen Smoot
The scenes from Los Angeles rival few in America’s history. Likely not since the Civil War has a large urban area on American soil seen blazes burning out of control in the manner of Los Angeles and some of its wealthiest suburbs. With the help of Union soldiers, Atlanta, Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia, all burned to the ground with firefighters unable to contain the destruction.
Only a century ago did the Town of Franklin endure devastation from fire spread by wind-swept and dry conditions.
Worries about wildfires are never far away from local emergency planning officials, however. The fires that raged last year in severe drought and high wind conditions met their match in the determined men and women called upon to fight them in the Potomac Highlands ridges and valleys.
With resources stretched to the limit, first responders, and the communities supporting them, protected lives and property throughout the area.
Today, as Pendleton County Emergency Services coordinator, Rick Gillespie, explains, fire units have two major challenges in attacking wildfires, “water and resources.”
Much of the destruction in Los Angeles came with the breakdown of firefighting infrastructure, especially non-working fire hydrants. “With water supply,” said Gillespie, “we need reliable hydrants and we need water systems that support a reasonable amount of water flow for fire-fighting.”
Gillespie emphasized that “we do recognize that water systems, no matter how robust, have limitations on the amount of water that can be drawn from them.”
He went on to add that “we realize that modern pumpers can out-pump the amount of water flow. However, we recognize that we need to find funding sources to allow for improvements in our county. There is room for improvement and that is not meant as a negative remark toward the folks who support the public water systems we do have.”
Some help came from the West Virginia State Legislature. In 2023, a historic home in Charleston and a Pizza Hut in Danville, Boone County, both burned because the closest fire hydrants had insufficient water flow. Last the state Legislature passed House Bill 5617, “authorizing the Public Service Commission to promulgate rules for maintenance, flushing, flow testing, and making of fire hydrants owned by water utilities.”
The bill also stated that “the Legislature finds that it is in the public interest of the citizens of West Virginia to follow the National Fire Protection Association’s Recommended Practice” and the “American Water Works Association’s” manual to ensure that hydrants under its purview meet national standards.
Gillespie, however, notes that resources shortfalls can also leave firefighters with insufficient capabilities to fight blazes and also protect their safety. “We need the state to supply additional equipment and support to our VFDs so they can enhance their wildfire capabilities. They lack the donated funds to make it happen.”
Like in Los Angeles, lack of funding has forced some area departments to use decades old equipment and rely on maintenance to keep obsolete apparatus functioning. Meanwhile, inflation continues to drive up the price of new equipment. Last November, on the day in which South Fork Volunteer Fire Department took possession of a new tanker, Jeff Bowers, SVFD president, explained, “It’s close to $1 million for an engine.”
Some area departments have to rely on equipment that was new in 1990 and even 1973.
“The West Virginia Division of Forestry has taken major steps to add new equipment in their statewide inventory,” shared Gillespie, “to include new dozers, trucks, ATV mounted equipment, etc. and that is very good.” He warned, however, that “the number of forestry personnel is very low statewide and often they must rely on the VFDs and their members to battle the large blazes, especially when we have an outbreak of wildfires throughout the state.”
Gillespie called for “enhanced state-level funding to support the local VFDs and the equipment they will have to battle wildfires.” He went on to say, “It is obvious that we are seeing an uptick in the number of wildfires and the acreage involved.”
The northern and eastern sections of Pendleton County are in the official “abnormally dry” category, but every other county in the Potomac Highlands remains in D1 Moderate Drought conditions, even after the recent precipitation. Streamflow in both the South Branch and South Fork remain below normal as well.
“We have seen the results of severe drought conditions and we have seen the results of wildfires,” Gillespie stated, going on to add that “should we experience wildfire during a future drought coupled with high winds, which we know we can have, then we could see serious consequences.”
