A forest fire on the Western slope of Poor Mountain in Montgomery County is thought to have been started by Tuesday afternoon's lightning-storm. As of late Wednesday evening, a major plume spread smoke throughout the Elliston and Shawsville areas of Montgomery County.

The command post is at Eastern Montgomery High School; the fire is less than one mile South.  Roanoke County personnel joined firefighters and support personnel from Elliston and other Montgomery County agencies on Wednesday.
 
Charlie Yopp, Forest Ranger in charge of Montgomery and Floyd County, estimated that 20-25 acres were currently burning. "It is in an extremely remote area; we don't want to risk lives by putting too many firefighters too near.  We are hoping for a few rain showers, but our plan is based upon single-wing aircraft water-drops on Thursday," said Yopp.

Yopp said that the fire would be contained, but that it might be several days before the fire and smoke is stopped. There's no housing in the area, and it would have to travel across Poor Mountain to enter Roanoke County, where there's homes.  It is not expected to spread near the peak of the mountain, due to the intervention of the firefighters.  Heavy-equipment is not easily or quickly able to enter the area.  It is hoped that, after the water-drops, personnel can safely enter, via all-terrain vehicles, can manually set up fire-lines that should contain the affected area.

Click here to see additional photos in our photo gallery.

Photos by Larry Middleton
 
Look for updates here at EverythingNRV.com as they become available.

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