Mar 8, 2023, News Release

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, VA – At approximately 9:40 pm on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, career and volunteer fire units from Albemarle County Fire Rescue and the Department of Forestry responded to the report of a brush fire on Old Lynchburg Road. The first apparatus arrived on scene 13 minutes after dispatch to find a fire in an open field.

Crews were able to contain the fire to the field and prevent loss of life or property. The Department of Forestry responded with a bulldozer to assist in containing the fire by digging a fire break. A firebreak is a gap in vegetation or other combustible material that acts as a barrier to slow or stop the progress of a brush or wildfire. This allowed fire crews to use small hose lines to extinguish the fire.

Due to wind gusts of 25+ miles per hour, it took units approximately an hour and a half to extinguish the fire.

No injuries were reported at the time of the incident.

The Albemarle County Fire Marshal’s Office has determined that the cause of the fire was falling power lines that sparked and ignited the ground cover.