Chesapeake teen charged in brush fire sparked by fireworks

CHESAPEAKE

A Chesapeake teen was charged today with setting off fireworks that sparked a brush fire, causing $100,000 worth of soybean crop damage, said Capt. Steve Johnson, a spokesman for the Chesapeake Fire Department.

About 50 firefighters worked overnight to stop the blaze, reported about 9:30 p.m. Friday in the 1200 block of Ballahack Road near the North Carolina border. It was cleared by 3 a.m., Johnson said.

“I’m pretty confident that everything’s going to be OK,” he said, when asked of the possibility of the fire reigniting.

Ryan Everton, 18, of the 600 block of Corby Glen Avenue, was charged with possession and use of fireworks – a misdemeanor – and burning standing crops, which is a felony.  The misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail and/or a $2,500 fine. Johnson didn’t know the punishment for the felony.

Chesapeake dispatchers received several 911 calls about smoke from the fire, which was visible from the Great Bridge area, Johnson said. No homes were in immediate danger because winds were pushing the fire toward the Northwest River watershed. Firefighters from Currituck County, Moyock, Virginia Beach and the Navy assisted Chesapeake firefighters in battling the blaze. An evening rainstorm also helped extinguish the flames.

Witnesses told officials that they saw two people playing with sparklers before the fire started, Johnson said. They did not have the farmer’s permission to be on the property.

Johnson estimated that 85 to 90 percent of the farmer’s soybean crop was destroyed.

Some people mistakenly believe that sparklers are harmless, Johnson said.

“It’s a semantics thing,” he said. “People say sparklers aren’t fireworks. In our eyes, they are.”

By 11 p.m. Friday, at least six other smaller fires had ignited in Chesapeake – mostly in residents’ front and backyards – because of illegal fireworks.

Prior to the Ballahack Road brush fire, investigators with the Chesapeake fire marshal’s office had spent the evening riding in neighborhoods in an effort to stop illegal fireworks displays. They confiscated about 20 pounds of fireworks, as well as wrote a dozen warnings and one summons, Johnson said.

“Nobody’s trying to be a stick in the mud. Nobody’s trying to ruin a holiday,” he said. “It’s just that fireworks have a validated history of being dangerous.”

Virginian-Pilot Staff Writer Kathy Adams contributed to this report.