Winds Add to Peril of Appalachian Fires

Hikers and hunters are being asked to stay out of the woods and timber workers have been turned into firefighters as mountainous terrain burns throughout the Appalachians, from Georgia to West Virginia.

About 70,000 acres have burned this week in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia. Kentucky, with about 40,000 acres charred, has been hit hardest.

The situation may soon worsen. Winds moved into the region Friday, with gusts of more than 30 mph expected; no rain was in the forecast.

“It’s terrible right now. And there is an immediate effect to fires like this. Not only do they take away the land, they’re an expensive, money-losing situation for anyone that’s in our business long-term,” said C. K. Ware, chief forester for the Pocahontas Land Co., a timber firm that operates in Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia.

“Fires like this totally consume you. We have to commit our work force to fighting the fires.”

Appalachian fires usually are not as dramatic as fires in the western United States. They stay low to the ground and appear at night like a glowing snake on a mountainside.

But when driven by wind--which the mountains usually break--low humidity and high temperatures, flames can flare up and move fast like their western counterparts, said Jedd Flowers, a West Virginia Division of Forestry spokesman.

The National Guard is assisting firefighters in Kentucky and West Virginia. Timber operators and miners are also involved, trying to help protect large blocks of land where their companies operate.

In north Georgia, a 13-mile section of the Appalachian Trail, which extends from Georgia to Maine, was closed this week because of excessive smoke from fire burning across 5,300 acres.

In North Carolina, about 3,000 acres of the Nantahala National Park were burning and a small section of the Appalachian Trail was closed. A four-mile section of the trail has also been closed in Shenandoah National Park in eastern Virginia.

Dan Shreve, 41, of Charleston, normally goes mountain biking three times a week but has not gone at all this week.

“I don’t want to go out and breathe in all the smoke,” he said. “It goes against why I want to go out and bike.”

At the Snowbird Mountain Lodge near Robbinsville, N.C., front-desk manager Shelly Bowman has told some to “just stay home” because the smoke is so bad.

“It’s horrible and I think it has really cut down on participation,” said Kenny Wilson, president of the West Virginia Bow Hunters Assn. “Your nose and eyes burn and if you have any allergies, it compounds that problem and it leaves you parched.”

Mountain forest fires often are followed by floods because they burn the root systems of plants and trees.