Residents have gotten used to the glow of blue light dominating the southern Portsmouth sky since the U.S. Grant Bridge was lit in 2023. This past week, however, a paralleling red light was just north of Portsmouth, while five firefighter departments worked for ten hours to contain a fire that spread to a total coverage the size of around 46 football fields.
Assistant Fire Chief of Rosemount Fire Department Eric Brown explained to the Portsmouth Times that a fire originating from someone burning on their property grew out of control Tuesday, when his department received a late afternoon call that the fire was consuming the Rosemount hillside.
“We were dispatched around 3 p.m. to the report of a brushfire. The fire started on Lowry Hollow, at approximately the 1200 block,” Brown said. “The original fire was around 30 acres in size when we were dispatched, and the total fire is estimated by us and ODNR to be around 55 to 60 acres burned.”
According to Brown, Rosemount firefighters were on the scene from 3 p.m. to 1 a.m., along with mutual aid coming in from Rubyville, Valley, Washington Township and ODNR Forestry.
“The fire was located above very steep terrain, which was part of the problem with this one. We had to use offroad vehicles to get to the fire,” Brown explained. “Where the fire was, it was about a 15-minute ride to get from the top of Rosemount Road to the point where the fire had grown, which delayed us in getting manpower there.”
Brown said that the fire department had tanker trucks near homes that were in potential risk, but water wasn’t an option for battling the fire where it was growing, so they had to default to more physical labor to stop the flames from growing.
“The firefighters used rakes, blowers, and other hand tools to make lines around the fire. It is really strenuous work. You’re on a very steep hill and you’re raking and blowing; it’s very hard on a firefighter and takes a lot of manpower,” Brown explained. “We were, fortunately, able to get a bulldozer up there and make a line around the fire and get most of it contained, but it was still a hard task, because of the terrain.”
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According to Brown, crews were called out once again the following day when the fire rekindled and they spent an additional hour and a half getting it put out.
Brown said that this fire occurred during an active burn ban and that the easiest way to keep these situations from happening is to follow burning guidelines established by officials.
“Obey the burn bans. We are on a burn restriction from March and April, through the restriction period,” Brown explained. “There is absolutely no burning; you have to obey the no burn laws. You shouldn’t burn near hillsides on windy days, which sounds obvious, but people seem to do that anyway. If you do live near the woods, we ask people to keep debris away from your house and to keep vegetation off your house. We had several houses that we were protecting that had three feet of leaves on their roofs. If one amber lands in that, you know, you have a major disaster.”
Brown said the opening burning that caused the fire is under investigation by ODNR.
According to the Ohio Department of Commerce, examples of activities prohibited by an established Ohio burn ban include any open burning of trash, debris, waste, combustibles, leaf piles or similar vegetation; campfires and bonfires; throwing down or discarding lit or smoldering material, such as matches or cigarettes; using or discharging any type of fireworks; live-fire training events; flame effect(s) based displays or exhibitions, including sky lanterns and cold spark machines; using spark or heat producing devices for recreational purposes.
The Ohio Department of Commerce says that acceptable open flame-related activities include indoor cooking, outdoor cooking with electric stoves/cooking elements or propane/liquid fueled cooking as permitted in this order, and use of non-flame based heating or electrical devices.
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