by Kate Evans
Area firefighters battled a field fire in Morgan County near Hedgesville on Wednesday, July 10 that spread to an unoccupied mobile home. The heat index temperatures that afternoon were 114 degrees as multiple fire companies fought to get the blaze under control.
Morgan County 911 Center Director Marshall Younker said that the fire call came in to the 911 Center at 4:31 p.m. on Wednesday as a brush fire/field fire on Burnt Mill Road in Morgan County near Hedgesville. The address was listed as a Berkeley Springs address, he said.
The caller, who was a passerby, noted a couple minutes into the 911 call that they could see black smoke coming from a trailer that was on the property. The fire was then upgraded to a structure fire, Younker said.
Lieutenant Robert Frey of the Berkeley Springs Volunteer Fire Company responded to the fire. Frey said that Berkeley Springs Sergeant Troy Crone was first on the scene. Crone found on arrival an active fire with the mobile home involved and a brush fire had spread to around 2.5 to 3 acres. Frey said that no one was living in the mobile home that caught fire.
There were no injuries to firefighters or anyone on the scene. The cause of the fire is undetermined. No other structures were endangered by the fire. Frey said that a couple of farm vehicles were endangered by the fire, but weren’t burned up by it.
They managed to control the mobile home fire and the trailer wasn’t completely destroyed. However, it won’t be livable, he said.
Fire units spent around three hours on the scene, Frey said. The forestry division is looking into the cause of the fire and the forester was at the fire scene. The fire marshal has not been called in.
Frey said their main concern with the fire was getting enough manpower on the scene with the high temperatures. The winds didn’t affect their operations.
Units that responded to the fire were Berkeley Springs, Great Cacapon, South Morgan, Paw Paw, Hancock, Hedgesville, Baker Heights, Bedington, Back Creek Valley, Williamsport, Air National Guard, Reynolds Store, South Berkeley and Clear Spring Volunteer Fire Companies along with Morgan County Emergency Medical Services, Washington County Rehab Unit and the City of Martinsburg, said Younker.
Ridgeley Volunteer Fire Company covered the Berkeley Springs fire station and Gainesboro Volunteer Fire Company covered the South Morgan’s fire station, Younker said. Morgan County Deputy Reserves helped with traffic.
Younker said that officials on the scene started releasing units at 6:34 p.m. and all fire operations were completed at 6:50 p.m. The last unit cleared the fire scene at 7:41 p.m.