A combine moving through a wheat field around 2:30 PM EDT overheated and started a fire that spread rapidly due to extremely dry conditions. Within minutes flames destroyed the combine estimated to be worth about $92,000 and swept eastward across a field of foot high wheat stubble.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS LWX wrote it up.
A combine moving through a wheat field around 2:30 PM EDT overheated and started a fire that spread rapidly due to extremely dry conditions. Within minutes flames destroyed the combine estimated to be worth about $92,000 and swept eastward across a field of foot high wheat stubble. The fire was extremely intense, with flames reaching 15 feet in height. Three State Department of Forestry fire fighting units and nine volunteer fire companies from Frederick, Clarke, and Warren Counties battled the blaze. The fire was brought under control by 5:00 PM EDT and completely extinguished at 9:20 PM EDT. Six firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion at the scene during the operation. The fire ended up burning 60 acres of wheat valued at around $6,700, 5 acres of farmland, and 2 acres of woodland.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
60 acres of wheat, 5 acres of farmland, 2 acres of woodland, and a combine destroyed
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Virginia in 1999Every state in 1999This day in weather historyWarnings in Virginia, July 1999
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5710408.