“I can speak with full confidence that the structures around the park are protected,” said John Miller, the Virginia Department of Forestry state wildland fire chief, but the National Park Service has fire suppression responsibility within the park itself.
Miller says the Virginia Department of Forestry has been creating fire lines with bulldozers to prevent it from spreading. “Dozer lines,” as they’re called, are created using a bulldozer to dig out the flammable vegetation. What’s left behind is a wide line of dirt that the fire cannot easily spread beyond, though particularly intense fires in very windy conditions can often jump these lines.
On Monday, the department put in dozer lines on the east side of the fire to protect homes in Beldor, Va. But a wind shift was in the forecast, and they knew that the western side of the fire would also soon be at risk. Tuesday they focused on creating lines on the west side to protect structures and subdivisions along U.S. Route 340.