RICHMOND, Va. –
More than 120 Virginia National Guard Soldiers went on state active duty Feb. 11, 2008, to join in the Commonwealth’s battle against wild fires raging throughout the state. While a Virginia National Guard helicopter dumped 600-galllon buckets of water to help contain fires in the Tappahanock area, more than 100 Soldiers trained at Fort Pickett to be prepared for duty on Feb. 12 in Roanoke and Bedford.
“The Virginia National Guard helicopters were amazingly effective today,” said Dave Slack, the regional forester in the Tappahanock region of the Virginia Department of Forestry. “Our objective for the Guard was to protect structures in the area from the fires, and we accomplished that mission.”
The target area was a housing development approximately one mile southeast of Center Cross, Va., Slack explained. The terrain in that area would have made it very difficult for the Department of Forestry to have battled the blaze with their tracked vehicles. It would have take a crew of four to six fire fighters and Department of Forestry personnel three to five days to accomplish what the Virginia Guard helicopter did in an hour, Slack said.
As the Virginia Guard aviators were helping contain fires with their water dumps, approximately 100 Virginia Army National Guard Soldiers conducted firefighting training with the Virginia Department of Forestry at Fort Pickett.
The Soldiers are scheduled to leave Fort Pickett in the early morning Feb. 12. About 60 Soldiers are scheduled to travel to the Roanoke Armory to establish a command post and begin assisting Forestry Department officials with the fire fighting effort in the Carvin’s Cove area. About 40 Soldiers are scheduled to travel to the Bedford area and assist with the fight against fires in the Smith Mountain Lake area.
The Soldiers will be supporting Virginia Department of Emergency Management and the Virginia Department of Forestry by providing fire line construction and clean-up efforts in the affected areas.
The Soldiers are from elements of the 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry and come from Lynchburg, Danville, Martinsville, South Boston as well as other cities throughout Virginia.1st Battalion recently returned from a year-long mission in Kosovo and was celebrating their return at a Freedom Salute on Sunday. This is their first call to state active duty since their return in November.