March 17, 2012 (ROANOKE COUNTY) -- Firefighters from Roanoke County Fire & Rescue and the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) worked to hand-dig containment lines until late last night. Once containment lines were set up around the fire, crews were dismissed. Because of the steep slope of the terrain and wet weather, crews did not perform the back burns during the late night and rescheduled them for today.
Roanoke County Fire & Rescue turned over all operations to the VDOF late last night. Starting at 8 a.m. this morning, the VDOF had personnel on scene and briefed. Their plan for today will be to reinforce and secure the containment lines and, if weather permits, will back burn from the containment lines to the fire area. If the back burning occurs, mop-up will take place later today.
The acreage charred is still estimated at about 18 acres with an estimate of several more with back burning.
Investigators have ruled out all natural causes for the fire, thus believe the fire was human-caused. Currently, they are still investigating exactly what sparked the blaze.