View Full Version : Fire near Bastian VA
Seatbelt
04-12-2017, 07:47
I received a call yesterday from a friend in SW Virginia and he said he could see a fire on a mountain a couple miles west of I-77 close to Bastian. Anyone know more about this or if it is a controlled burn or does it affect the trail or ??
illabelle
04-12-2017, 10:48
We saw several notices about an upcoming controlled burn a few weeks ago. I sorta thought a "controlled" burn would be pretty small, hard to see from a distance.
Old Hillwalker
04-12-2017, 11:09
Not necessarily. https://www.outsideonline.com/1988971/playing-fire-feud-grows
No alerts or notices posted on the GWNF website. There is a lot of damage from gypsy moth in that area.
Mountain Mike
04-12-2017, 21:49
It was a controlled burn. I watched from Fort Bastion as FS vehicles went up the road through the property every morning & came back down each night, Biggest burn was monday. They are still going up & down each day,39029
Seatbelt
04-13-2017, 09:19
Thank you for the info.
Here is some info from ATC's central/Southwest Regional office:
There are several prescribed burns this week on the George Washing/Jefferson National Forests.
The report from Bastian was the Round Mountain West prescribed burn. They were actively burning it Tuesday and yesterday, are done and monitoring today. They burned 1,364 acres. Here's a news article: http://www.bdtonline.com/news/forestry-service-plans-several-controlled-burns-in-region/article_35158c72-1e5f-11e7-9cc4-d3d2b5d8db56.html
Just FYI, there is another prescribed burn of about 1300 acres today in Giles County near Pembroke. This one won't touch the A.T. either but is probably a little closer, so hikers may see it or notice smoke. It's called the Rocky Mountain prescribed burn and is one mile southwest of the junction of VA-613 and VA-635. The closest A.T. landmark is probably Wind Rock, if you look due north on the map you'll spot Rocky Mountain.