By Stephen Smoot
Last week, the Pendleton County Local Emergency Planning Committee met as part of its quarterly legal obligation to confer. With wildfires breaking out for the second week in wind and dryness afflicted areas of the county, the usual rescue squad and fire attendees were in the field protecting lives and property.
On this occasion, a number of fire and rescue assets had gone to Greenawalt Gap to battle a blaze that sparked there when trees toppled onto power lines.
Bruce Minor opened the meeting with discussion of a “table top exercise” planned. He shared that a continuous flow study result of hazardous materials shipped through the county showed that the worst coming through regularly was anhydrous ammonia.
The table top exercise, not yet scheduled, will pull together emergency planning and operations stakeholders to work through the exercise. This will help to prepare all involved for real-life emergencies with this chemical compound.
Minor then reported that at the legally required annual public meeting held in August, “we had a big crowd of zero.”
With the Potomac Highlands region in recent years swinging widely between persistent drought and heavy rains and flood conditions, Rick Gillespie, Pendleton County Emergency Services coordinator, provided an update on the upcoming installation of six advanced streamflow gauges on area streams. “Rain gauges have been ordered,” he shared, and have a delivery date later this month with installation expected in December.
Discussion included the improved alert capabilities that these devices will provide counties downstream from Pendleton. “That’s going to give Grant and Hardy a lot of lead time as well,” he noted.
Gillespie then gave updates on fires currently active. He stated that the “Woodside” fire that consumed 300 acres on Big Mountain, was in the “mopping up” stage, sharing that “USFS took the lead on that,” since it burned within the Monongahela National Forest.
At about 3 a.m. last Wednesday morning, a fire broke out behind Eagle Rock in the Smoke Hole Canyon. Gillespie stated that small boats assisted crews and equipment across the South Branch River to access the fire behind the famous rock formation. “It didn’t take long to address that,” he said.
Although Gillespie described the Greenawalt Gap fire as “70 percent contained,” he noted “it’s still raging.” Sandy Green, chief of the Canaan Valley Volunteer Fire Department, attended the meeting and asked about the infrared technology used by Pendleton County Office of Emergency Management drones.
Gillespie explained how the precision cameras on the drones can identify structures in danger and help those on the ground deploy most effectively. The same technology can assist greatly in “law enforcement, fire, search and rescue – you name it.”
Later in the meeting, Gillespie explained how the infrared camerawork helped to solve an arson and murder crime in the county in recent years.
“Your drone work is remarkable,” concluded Green.
Gillespie and Green then discussed how forest fires east of the Mississippi have changed in recent decades. The accumulation of “junk trees, including dead hardwood elm and ash, plus thicker growth of vegetation lead to more intense blazes. Treetops now catch and wind conditions can create small flame tornadoes in extreme conditions.
“The forests just aren’t healthy anymore and the nature of fire is changing with it,” Green stated.
Additionally, Gillespie related that WHSV meteorology staffers alerted him to the possible fire by observing the temperature changes in that region from their satellite coverage.
Frank Wehrle delivered updates from the Town of Franklin, starting with work on water and sewer. Water project work currently focuses on connecting a tank at Hanover to power. Additionally, Wehrle warned the committee about the condition of older plastic water piping installed four decades ago. He explained that plastic pipes tended to break along the long seams, making maintenance difficult.
