2006

Local, state and federal agencies often work well together on wildland fires. It is especially noteworthy when they do so the first time around. Some of the credit for this success goes to the people from the different groups who committed themselves to creating a useful document, the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park Wildland Fire Management Plan.

In March, high winds broke a tree limb onto an overhead electric line. The resulting spark started a wildland fire in this historical park in rural, central Virginia. The fire spread quickly, fanned by winds gusting over 25 miles per hour. In accordance with the park’s Wildland Fire Management Plan, the fire was suppressed. The quick response by the Virginia Department of Forestry, the Appomattox Fire Department and the NPS stopped the fire at 2.3 acres, before it could move into a larger pine plantation. This was the largest woodland fire to occur at the park in anyone’s recollection.

When most people think about the site, they consider its main story. Appomattox Court House National Historical Park preserves the place where General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederacy’s most successful field army to General-in-Chief of all United States forces, Ulysses S. Grant. Fire managers must look at its 1,775 acres in a different way. The response to the Power Line Fire showed that they did so effectively.

Appomattox Court House National Historical Park
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