Firefighters battle 20 blazes in Forbestown

Twenty fires ignited along Forbestown Road Monday afternoon, after an alleged drunken driver crashed his truck into a guardrail and continued to drive down the roadway on only three intact wheels, sparking numerous fires in his trail.

[Mat Grabowski]

Although the fires were ignited by the drunk driver, the cause of the fires was the kindling left beside the roadway by county work crews.
Last month county work crews, using a masticater, cleared brush along Forbestown road resulting in miles of piles of flammable material. The sloppy work also left trees partially chewed up and vulnerable to attack by insects and fire.
The county had been notified by several residents complaining about the mess and the inherent danger of leaving such debris next to a roadway.
The county needs to be held accountable as well as the drunk driver. They should also clean up the messes they made or more fires will result.

[macysga]

why is this man not being charged with starting the 20 plus fires near Forbstown. do we actually need a repeat of last years fires, due to a person choosing to be under the influnce and then get into a vechile and wreaking havic.

[common sense]

common sense


Hey Mat, Has it occured to you how fast the fire would have spread had the large amounts of dead and dry vegetation still been hanging along the road.Most reasonable people would agree the fact that the material is down on the ground making the spread of the fires considerably slower, and giving firefighters the opportunity to control the flames. Just thinking out loud here Mat.

[Mat Grabowski]

common sense wrote:

common sense
Hey Mat, Has it occured to you how fast the fire would have spread had the large amounts of dead and dry vegetation still been hanging along the road.Most reasonable people would agree the fact that the material is down on the ground making the spread of the fires considerably slower, and giving firefighters the opportunity to control the flames. Just thinking out loud here Mat.

Not til now, thanks.