Firefighters use fire to fight against itself

STEELES TAVERN — It's not the strategy you would expect to work in putting out a forest fire.

High winds and dry ground, combined with an absence of rain, and firefighters were deliberately setting the forest ablaze.
But Friday afternoon, the measures taken to control the conflagration just outside the St. Mary's Wilderness area near Steeles Tavern were having the desired effect.

Having already spread through more than a third of the 10,000-acre wilderness, the fire — its cause not likely to be determined, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Al McPhereson — had skipped around the Dogwood Hollow area and was well on its way south to Route 56. Beyond that point, it would then threaten homes sitting on the other side of the road.

Volunteer firefighters, McPhereson said, were prepared at individual homes with fire trucks and personnel, but no one was forced to evacuate.

Instead of rain, a helicopter dropped a hailstorm of ping-pong-ball-sized potassium permanganate — a chemical that, with a delayed reaction of about 10 seconds, started a potent fire — on the east and west slopes of the ridge leading to Route 56. It's known as a backfire operation, McPhereson said, and it worked to contain the fire.

At the same time that was happening, most of the 121 people involved, from federal and state agencies to local volunteers, were out burning terrain along the road leading away from the bulldozer line, according to Charlie Rudacille, normally with Shenandoah National Park but one of those assisting in controlling the fire.

The helicopter chemical drops, he said, would help prevent big runs with the fires and would lessen their intensity.

In the half-hour it took for the helicopter to drop the many thousands of chemical balls and make its way around both sides of the ridge, visibility was reduced to near-zero as heavy, dark-brown smoke filled the sky and bright orange flames dotted the slopes.

"If it all goes well, in an hour it'll be boring," Rudacille said while the helicopter was in the air.

The gusting, 15 to 20 mph winds — blowing the fire northeast, away from the west slope — was a blessing to the firefighters, as were the dry, overcast conditions. But Rudacille was aware of forecasts calling for a chance of thunderstorms later in the day.

"The thunderstorm, and the erratic winds associated with the thunderstorm, would be a problem," Rudacille said.

The rain would seem like a good thing, he said. However, mixed with the chemical too early, it could dampen the desired effect.
The fire has grown from its initial 200 acres Wednesday morning to more than 3,000 acres by the end of the day Friday.

But the chemical drops appeared to be working less than an hour later. At a public information meeting Friday evening, residents seemed to understand the logic of starting a fire to prevent a larger one, McPhereson said.

"It all went well because the winds stayed with us the way we needed them to," McPhereson said.

The plumes of brown smoke faded from view.
Just then, a light rain began to fall.