The National Park Service closed a small section of the Appalachian Trail and about six miles of Skyline Drive at the height of the Rocky Branch Fire in Luray, north of park headquarters, but today or tomorrow they expect to reopen both. Incident commander Michael Davis says the low-intensity blazes that swept across nearly a thousand acres did not appear to harm wildlife.
“The larger animals can sense that there’s fire or imminent danger, and they usually run out of the way. The smaller animals, they normally burrow into the trees or the ground," he explains. "The intensity wasn’t so bad where it scorched deep down into the earth, and it moved pretty quick because of the winds, so it’s light and flashy and then over with.”
And he says the forest itself saw minimal damage.
“The trees will survive.”
Davis predicts ground cover will begin growing back in about two weeks. In the meantime, firefighters are clearing fallen trees and checking for any remaining hot spots or smoldering logs. He says spring and fall are fire season in Virginia, but high humidity in the summer should give crews from the national park, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Forest Service and local fire departments a break.
