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Saturday, June 30, 2012

Update from Shenandoah Neighbor Mountain Fire




Shenandoah National Park

Neighbor Mountain Fire Incident Update

Saturday, June 30 2012

Information Contact:
Linda Friar, Incident PIO 786-385-0067

Overview:
Fire was first reported on June 26, 2012 at approximately 6:40 a.m. on

Neighbor Mountain in Shenandoah National Park in Page County.

Size:
Estimated at 827 acres as of 1:00 pm 6/29/12, and entirely within the boundaries of

Shenandoah National Park.

Containment:
0%. No estimated date of containment.

Fire Conditions:
The fire is burning in steep, rocky terrain. The forest is a mix of

hardwoods, mountain laurel, blueberry and leaf litter.

Today’s Strategy:
Additional fire crews from New Jersey, Florida, Georgia, and

Massachusetts are in place today and will augment local crews’ efforts to continue

construction of a fire line around the fire.

Current Resources:
The Southern Area Red Team, as a Type 2 incident management

team, has established a unified command with the Virginia Dept. of Forestry to manage

the fire. Resources assigned to the fire include personnel from the National Park

Service, US Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Virginia Department of

Forestry, and Mississippi Forestry Commission.

Threats:
No immediate threats to structures.

Storm Closures:

The thunderstorm last night has resulted in closures of the north and south

districts of the Skyline Drive: mile 4.6 through mile 31.5 at Thornton Gap and

Route 33, Swift Run Gap to Route 64, Rockfish Gap. Park staff hope to have that

open later in the day.

Fire Closures:

The following trails are closed: Appalachian Trail between Elkwallow and Beahms

Gap, Knob Mountain Cutoff, Knob Mountain, Neighbor Mountain, Jeremys Run.

Byrd’s Nest #4 Shelter.

Incident Information Sources:
Incident Management has set up an email account for

communication with the communities – neighbormtnfire@gmail.com. Current information

will be available on the park twitter and facebook sites –

http://www.facebook.com/shenandoahnps
 and http://twitter.com/ShenandoahNPS.

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