Members of the Abingdon Volunteer Fire and Rescue, Inc., responded to a woods fire last Tuesday in the early afternoon near Cedar Bush Road in Coke in an area hard hit by last April’s tornado.

AVFR public information officer Robert Parlett said the fire was easily contained by roads and a field, but the conditions made the fire difficult to access and extinguish. "The fire area was a huge mass of down twisted trees mixed in with building debris," Parlett said. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze to about an acre, he said.

The Virginia Department of Forestry was called and a bulldozer was used to clear the woods, he added. Units were on scene for over three hours under very warm and windy conditions. "Quite a bit of time was spent using chain saws to take care of burning snags," Parlett said.

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