Wildfire — Kanawha, West Virginia

2014-03-11 · Kanawha, West Virginia

Wider weather episode

Afternoon temperatures reached into the 70 to 75 degree range along the lower Elk River Valley. Southwest winds were blowing at 10 to 15 mph. The relative humidity was around 25 percent.

A 67 year old man near Clendenin was burning some debris near his home. The wind caused the fire to flare up. When firefighters arrived, a barn had caught fire and a small brush fire was burning over a hillside. The firefighters found the man collapsed on the ground. His clothes were not burnt. The preliminary finding was the man died of cardiac arrest, apparently while trying to control the brush fire.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 494406. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.