Home Care In Quaker Gap, NC

VIRGINIA — Two wildfires burning in parts of Virginia consumed more than 4,000 acres this week, prompting Gov. Glenn Youngkin to declare a month-long state of emergency as drought conditions continue in the state.

As of Tuesday, the largest fire — the Quaker Run Fire — was partially located in Shenandoah National Park, while the other burned about 200 miles southwest near the Rocky Knob Recreation Area, according to the Virginia Department of Forestry.

Both blazes broke containment lines in recent days and have been fueled by persistent dry and windy conditions, according to Youngkin's executive order.

"The Commonwealth of Virginia is experiencing multiple wildfires around the state due to extremely dry conditions and high winds, both of which are common during the ongoing fall fire season," the executive order stated. "These fires have and may continue to pose a significant threat to public health and safety."

The Quaker Run Fire, located in Madison County, had burned through 3,350 acres of private, state, and federal lands as of 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, including about 670 acres in Shenandoah National Park, according to the Virginia Department of Forestry and the National Park Service.

NPS officials said the fire was located in the central part of the park near the eastern boundary.

On Tuesday evening, state officials said the fire was 40 percent contained.

Officials said the flames were producing heavy smoke Tuesday, affecting the cities of Syria and Madison, which are closest to the fire. Smoke also affected the central portion of Shenandoah National Park Smoke near Big Meadows, Whiteoak, and Old Rag.

A complete fire ban was enacted effective 8 a.m. Monday, NPS officials said. Hikers are encouraged to avoid the central part of the park.

The second fire — dubbed the Tuggles Gap Fire — had consumed about 850 acres as of Tuesday evening and was 75 percent contained.

Several counties across the state have burn bans in place. Check the Virginia Department of Forestry map for the latest bans.

Youngkin's executive order allows the state to assist in firefighter response efforts and provides state funding and Virginia National Guard support.

The wildfires came as parts of western Virginia continued to experience severe drought, according to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Drought Monitor, while much of the rest of the state remained under moderate drought or abnormally dry conditions.

A roadside inn in Patrick County has helped rally community support for the firefighters battling the Tuggle’s Gap blaze; see feature story below.

Virginia currently has five active wildfires that have each consumed more than 1,000 acres and are only partly contained.

The biggest is the Quaker Run fire in Madison County, which has consumed 3,500 acres, some of those in the Shenandoah National Park. As of Thursday, it was only 40% contained, according the Virginia Department of Forestry.

The second biggest is the Yocum Creek fire in Lee County on the Virginia-Kentucky line, which covers 1,500 acres and is 75% contained, the department said. The Rocklick Fire in Buchanan County covers 1,200 acres and is 57% contained, the Rachel’s Chapel fire in Dickenson County covers 1,100 acres and is 40% contained while Tuggle’s Gap in Patrick County is listed at 1,050 acres and 35% contained.

Patrick County administrator Beth Simms said that firefighters from Patrick, Henry, Floyd, Surry, Carroll, Montgomery and Franklin counties and the city of Martinsville along with the Virginia Department of Forestry, Virginia Department of Emergency Management and National Park Service have responded to the Tuggle’s Gap fire.

In response to the fires, Gov. Glenn Youngkin has declared a state of emergency and the Blue Ridge Parkway has temporarily banned backcountry campfires. Those fire restrictions apply to all backcountry campsites and shelters, but not to the year-round picnic areas.

The U.S. Forest Service has also announced restrictions on fires in the George Washington & Jefferson National Forest. Open fires outside of a developed recreation site are prohibited on national forest lands effective from November 9, 2023, through December 31, 2023. Open fires are banned at any “dispersed recreation site,” including the Appalachian Trail, the Forest Service said in a release. “Fires may be maintained within metal rings, burn pits, or grills within developed recreation sites. Propane and other fuel powered camp stoves are still permitted.”

Virginia will get some help on Friday as fairly widespread rain develops as a low-pressure system moves along a cold front stalling to the south. The rain will be light, mostly under one-half inch, so it won’t be nearly enough to fully relieve ongoing drought. Falling rain and humidity values with the rain will help crews contain existing fires, however.

No further rain is expected beyond Saturday morning through late next week, however, as temperatures cool down to near seasonal levels — 50s/60s highs, 20s/30s lows — before slowly warming again.

Most of the western two-thirds of Virginia is in moderate to severe drought on the newest U.S. Drought Monitor map issued Thursday, with a small area from northern Rockbridge and Bath counties northward through Augusta and Rockingham counties raised to extreme drought.

Cardinal News weather journalist Kevin Myatt contributed to this report. He discussed the drought in his weekly weather column.

Patrick County lodge becomes center for community support for firefighters battling Tuggle’s Gap blaze

By John Hopkins

Nick Bieneck is perched on a director’s chair in the pine-paneled lobby at Tuggle’s Gap, his roadside lodge near the Blue Ridge escarpment where a wildfire earlier this week climbed the steep mountainside just tens of yards from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Bieneck’s guests this week have been firefighters and other emergency workers focused on the wildfire, which by Thursday afternoon had consumed roughly 1,050 acres and threatened a score of homes and farm buildings. As of early afternoon, none of the buildings had been burned, said Beth Simmons, the Patrick County administrator, and a westerly breeze was telling the firefighters their work wasn’t done.

With two laptop computers and a mobile phone, Bieneck coordinates what is needed to feed the emergency workers and provide them showers and a resting place between their shifts. An outpouring of aid from nearby communities — Floyd, Woolwine, Meadows of Dan and beyond — has been shuttled in to multiply what Bieneck could provide from Tuggle’s Gap.

“I like doing this,” Bieneck said, looking out toward Virginia 8 and the stacks of bottled water and Gatorade in his driveway. Teams of arriving firefighters would heft a dozen or so bottles into their pickup or van before starting down the mountain to catch up with the fire. Bieneck found nearby quarters for his normal guests as the firefighters indicated they’d need to stay to the weekend.

Bieneck feels like he was born to event management. His father organized trade shows and Nick studied the sound systems used in large outdoor venues. He found Southwest Virginia years ago as a contractor for Floyd Fest. He took a liking to the Tuggle’s Gap Roadside Inn, a motel and restaurant since 1938, and when it came up for sale he and his father, Bjorn, bought it in 2021.

So far the fire has been confined to Patrick County. It was about 35% contained by Thursday afternoon, Simms said.

She made a point of expressing “heartfelt gratitude” for Bieneck and the merchants and individuals who contributed meals, snacks, water and hygiene items for the emergency workers — many or most of them volunteers. Anyone wishing to donate may bring nonperishable goods and small items such as nutrition bars to Tuggle’s Gap Roadside Inn, on Virginia 8 just off the parkway. The inn’s Facebook page has been keeping people informed about current needs.

Below are screenshots of some of the requests the inn has posted:

On October, 22, 1734, near Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, a small, insignificant lad came-forth from the womb. His father, along with a few hundred Quakers, had migrated from England in 1713 to escape persecution. He had married Sarah (another Quaker immigrant from Wales) and the two briefly celebrated their sixth child—of which there would eventually be eleven.

There was precious little time to rejoice. Cattle to tend, iron to blacksmith, cloth to weave; all occupations of the growing family. There was also little time for proper education. And it was perhaps this inattentive-style of tutoring—along with the official family-job of protecting cattle from predators—that led to the youngsters eventual passion for hunting and wanderlust.

Today, his birthplace—with a version of the original homestead, a museum, blacksmithing shop and a farm—is notably preserved and honored by the state of Pennsylvania.

Our pioneer’s story, in affirmation of his itchy-feet, eventually ended rather far away from Pennsylvania. Perpetually in search of the next-best-wilderness, and earlier, having lost all his property in Kentucky (in large measure due to inattentive legal documentation), he spent his final 21 years hunting and exploring in the Spanish-held Louisiana Territory (in what would become Missouri).

Noting his historical significance, Missouri designated his old homestead as a historical site and listed it on the National Register of Historic Places. A stone house, built by his son, and all the trappings of a late 18th-century pioneer farm, are attended regularly by tourists and history buffs.

Somewhere in the middle of his life, our frontiersman was hired by a North Carolina land speculator to build a trail and establish a fort in Kentucky. Purchased from the Cherokee, who argued the Shawnee didn’t own the land, he engineered a trail through the Cumberland Gap (bordering Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky) into northeastern Kentucky.

After erecting a fort, he, along with a small cadre of families, fought-off Shawnee attackers during the American Revolution. His daring perseverance in the face of life-and-limb danger opened up Kentucky for settlement (his Wilderness Trail was traversed by over 200,000 pioneers headed west).

This period of our adventurer’s life is gladly portrayed by the state of Kentucky at Boonesborough State Park, where a full-on replica of the fort commemorates his exploits and near-misses.

After his childhood/teenage years in Pennsylvania, but prior to his moxie-filled days in Kentucky and lengthy retirement in Missouri, our explorer spent some early-adult adventuring years—twenty-one to be exact—in North Carolina.

By the time Daniel Boone’s parents moved their family from Pennsylvania to North Carolina in 1750, he was on his way to becoming an accomplished longhunter—hunting for months at a time, far from home and family, in the hopes of procuring a large stash of hides and meat.

Residing near Mocksville, about 23-miles east of present-day Statesville, Boone met and married Rebecca Bryan, fathered nine children, fought in Lord Dunmore’s War, skirmished against the Cherokee and Shawnee, and began his longhunting forays into Tennessee and Kentucky—all while being a Tar Heel.

Oddly enough, not many people are aware of these days. Especially people who live in North Carolina.

In fact, beyond a few mentions in NC history museums, sparse log cabin displays, history markers, foot trails and outdoor dramas, comparatively speaking, Daniel Boone is somewhat of a mysterious, forgotten frontiersman of North Carolina. What’s that all about?

To the 1960’s mind, “…Daniel Boone was a man, yes, a big man; with an eye like an eagle and as tall as a mountain was he” (if you’re over the age of 50, who could forget the TV-series theme song, or Fess Parker and the 165-episodes of Dan’l, Mingo and his always-on-the-mark rifle, ticklicker).

As a 12-year old Boone-enthusiast, I recall visiting the town of Cherokee, where—of all places—Daniel Boone memorabilia was in high fashion. I have photos of my kids still wearing the fringed-laced, leather pull-over I bought for $24.99. My complimentary coonskin cap, a Hollywood invention that Boone never adorned, was worn to oblivion.

Looking back, these memories caused me to believe North Carolinians revered the well-traveled trail-blazer. In retrospect, maybe it was just marketing hype.

Today—at best—postmodern youth seem to view Boone as a vague western character, or possibly the name of a restaurant. “Wasn’t he at the Alamo?” (no). “Was he a cowboy?” (nope). “Oh yeah, he was the guy that cut down trees with Paul Bunyan” (not really). Isn’t there a restaurant named after him? (yep).

For some reason, many young Carolinians are also obtusely confident that Daniel Boone must’ve lived in Boone, NC. Although he didn’t, that seems reasonable for a generation that’s barely acquainted with his story.

Considering his name is attached to a couple hundred establishments hoping to cash-in on his exploits, it’s an interesting conundrum.

Maybe it’s time for a Daniel Boone Museum in Mocksville (currently, along with a town of 5,216 people, there are two gravestones bearing the names of his mother and father). Boone, NC seems like a suitable spot for a Frontier Heritage Center.

Come to think of it, it’s not too much of a stretch to envision a Daniel Boone Center in Black Mountain—where Boone apparently passed through on a number of occasions.

Honestly, it doesn’t really matter where you build it. A museum or memorial anywhere west of Charlotte would do (the man loved to wander).

His sensitivities don’t really jive with 21st-century America; but the guy had an amazing life and an incredible impact on colonial America—a fact Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Missouri have seemed to notice. Not to mention, 21-years in North Carolina produced some exceedingly good stories.

It’s about time our kids heard them.

Wildfires caused by drought, warmer-than-normal temperatures and, in a few cases, possibly arson have been ablaze for days in several Southern states. The threat has led officials to enact burn bans and to stop issuing safe-burn permits.

November is the peak month of the fire season across the country, but certain areas, including parts of the Southeast, are expected to be at an “above-normal” risk, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Mississippi, for example, was one of eight states that reported large fires to the National Fire Service on Friday. Drought and below-normal precipitation have been some of the contributing factors, according to the center.

While the fires in Mississippi have largely been contained, firefighters in Virginia and elsewhere are still working to put out the flames over large chunks of their territories.

Smoke forecast

Light

Medium

Heavy

“The Southern fire season has become more and more a fire year,” Shayne Martin, the national spokesman for the Forest Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said in a statement. “Fires are burning longer, hotter and create more destruction in recent years.”

Mr. Martin said that the wildfires in the South were particularly alarming because the region has “three of the top four states with the most homes near wild lands, thereby creating more risk to human health and property.”

Virginia

Extremely dry conditions and high winds were feeding the wildfires in Virginia, spurring Gov. Glenn Youngkin to issue a state of emergency that went into effect on Monday, and was to remain active for 30 days.

Governor Youngkin said officials were concerned about two fires in particular, the Quaker Run fire in Madison County and the Tuggles Gap fire in Patrick County.

The Quaker Run fire had burned about 2,800 acres of private, state and federal lands by Tuesday morning, according to the National Park Service. Around 670 of those acres were in Shenandoah National Park, where officials imposed a fire ban, effective Tuesday. The Virginia National Guard sent two Black Hawk helicopters to pour water onto the fire.

North Carolina

Two homes and an outbuilding were destroyed by the Poplar Drive fire in Henderson County, which has spread to more than 400 acres from 175 acres since Saturday. Just 5 percent of the fire had been contained by Monday, and officials were still investigating the cause.

Two other fires remained active in the state, officials said: the Collett Ridge fire in Cherokee County and the East Fork fire in Jackson County.

Officials have banned all open burning in North Carolina and canceled burning permits in 14 counties in the western part of the state because of the threat of wildfires stemming from severe drought.

“Because dry conditions are expected to continue, this burn ban is necessary to reduce the risk of fires starting and spreading quickly,” Steve Troxler, the state’s agriculture commissioner, said in a statement on Sunday. “Our top priority is always to protect lives, property and forestland across the state.”

Kentucky

There were 61 active fires in Kentucky on Tuesday, burning through an estimated 8,800 acres, said John Mura, a spokesman for the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet.

Many of the fires had been burning for several days, but they escalated over the weekend, Mr. Mura said. The fires have been concentrated in the eastern and southeastern parts of the state.

Six different fires erupted over the weekend in Harlan County, in southeast Kentucky. Dan Mosley, the county’s judge-executive, declared a state of emergency. Officials said they suspected that arson could have caused the fires in the area around the town of Smith; other fires in the county were believed to have started after people tried to burn debris, and those blazes grew out of control.

It was unclear when the fires would be put out, but there was a small chance of precipitation and cooler temperatures that could help toward the end of the week, Mr. Mura said.

Tennessee

Officials fought more than 30 fires that had burned more than 200 acres of privately owned woodland in Tennessee by Monday, according to the state’s Division of Forestry. At least seven fires were still active on Tuesday, with the bulk clustered in the central and western parts of the state, according to a map provided by the Division of Forestry. A number of other fires were designated as contained or controlled, meaning that control lines had been established around the fires.

The Division of Forestry stopped issuing safe debris burn permits in most counties, and officials issued a burn ban in Morgan County on Monday, which is in the eastern part of the state.

Drought fueled the fires and officials noted that rain was anticipated to return later in the week, with the central area of the state expected to see at least a half inch of precipitation.

Wildfires

Lola Fadulu is a general assignment reporter on the Metro desk of The Times. She was part of a team that was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2023 for coverage of New York City’s deadliest fire in decades. More about Lola Fadulu

Explore Our Weather Coverage

MADISON COUNTY, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- The Virginia National Guard says its Black Hawk helicopters are no longer providing fire suppression support in Madison and Patrick counties.

According to a release, the National Guard has demobilized the helicopters that were helping the Virginia Department of Forestry battling wildfires, including the Quaker Run fire in Madison County that has burned more than 3,900 acres since Oct. 24.

Now, the National Guard says it is training soldiers and airmen for possible ground firefighting support.

Between Nov. 6 and 9, two Black Hawk helicopters made 33 water drops using 660-gallon water buckets, bringing nearly 22,800 gallons of water into the effort to fight the Quaker Run fire.

On Nov. 11, two other helicopters were flying in Patrick County, making 21 drops of nearly 13,900 gallons of water to the Tuggles Gap fire, which has burned 1,150 acres.

“Our helicopter crews mobilized and deployed in record time to provide additional resources to help the Virginia Department of Forestry in the fight against multiple large wildfires,” said Brigadier General Todd H. Hubbard, the VNG Director of the Joint Staff. “Our partner agencies depend on the VNG to rapidly respond with requested capabilities when needed, and we are really proud of how quickly and safely our Soldiers responded.”

On Sunday, about 30 soldiers and airmen were practicing ground firefighting techniques with the VDOF at Fort Barfoot.

During this S-130 Wildland Firefighter Training, these soldiers and airmen received personal protective equipment as well as training stressing safety, basic tools, familiarization with bulldozers and engines, fireline construction, and proper fire shelter use.

Once they have completed this training, the troops will be deployed wherever VDOF needs them for ground support.

“The soldiers and airmen coming together to train for a possible ground support mission are from Virginia Army and Air National Guard units across Virginia, to include our 12M Army firefighters assigned to the Fort Barfoot Fire Department,” Hubbard said. “I am sure they are going to be a welcome sight to the crews who have been fighting wildfires for weeks, and we expect them to provide additional capabilities to allow some people to rest or help speed up the effort to finish getting the fires under control. It really is an honor to work with such dedicated professionals towards a common goal.”

There are several wildfires currently burning across Virginia.

As of Monday morning, the largest fire is still the Quaker Run fire, which has burned 3,937 acres, including several hundred inside the Shenandoah National Park.

The national park has closed numerous trails and the area around the historic Camp Rapidan in response.

Both Madison County and the national park have also issued burn bans.

The Quaker Run fire is about 41 percent contained.

Over the weekend, crews were working to clear containment lines and put out burning material within them.

This included felling some trees that were smoldering in order to reduce the likelihood that embers would cross containment lines on windy days.

A little bit of much-needed rain fell Friday, helping to get some of the potential fuel wet, but windy conditions are expected to return Monday evening.

Thanks to this rain, voluntary evacuation orders for some Madison County residents were lifted.

Fire officials say the dry air mass moving in will drop humidity levels, and combined with the increased winds, there will be critical fire weather conditions around this area through Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Tuggles Gap fire in Patrick County is about 70 percent contained.

In Buchanan County, the Rocklick fire has burned some 2,232 acres on the border between Virginia and Kentucky. It is about 70 percent contained.

And in Dickenson County, the Rachel’s Chapel fire has burned about 1,135 acres and is 90 percent contained.

For more information on current fires, click here.