InciWeb: St Mary's News Release

St Mary's News Release

St Maryâ€™s Wilderness Closed Until Further N

Incident: St Mary's Wildland Fire
Released: 3/26/2008

Buena Vista, Va. �€“ All trails and trailheads in the St. Mary�€™s Wilderness Area on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests are closed until further notice due to a wildfire. �€œWe recognize this is a popular area and we want to ensure the safety of our visitors and ask for their cooperation as we work to contain the fire, �€œ said Annie Downing, District Ranger on the Glenwood-Pedlar Ranger District. The response is being operated under a unified command and responding agencies include the Virginia Department of Forestry (VADOF), National Park Service (NPS), US Forest Service (USFS) and the Raphine and Montebello Volunteer Fire Departments (VFD). �€œThere�€™s a lot of rough terrain in that area and we�€™re going to be concentrating on taking our time and conducting a good recon of the area to enure we can deploy our resources safely and effectively,�€ said Incident Commander Glen Stapleton. The fire was reported to be 220 acres around 8 p.m. on March 25. No structures are threatened but the Raphine VFD is prepared to provide protection in the Spy Run area and a bulldozer is stationed with the Montebello VFD to provide additional support. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.