Maybe Smokey the Bear needs to show up on Valleyview Drive in White Hall.

In less than a month there have been two serious fires on that street.

On May 14, the Monongah, Valley, Boothsville, Winfield, Bunner's Ridge, Barrickville, Worthington and Shinnston Fire Departments and the Marion County Rescue Squad and West Virginia State Police showed up. An occupant got out safely.

On Tuesday, June 9 Pleasant Valley, Winfield and Boothsville fire departments and the Marion County Rescue Squad responded to another Valleyview Drive fire. The three-story home again was visited by fire the next day.

The blaze, which started in the garage, made the home a total loss, just as it did in the May fire.

Valley View is off Manuel Drive and is a very narrow 2-lane road. Emergency crews had problems with people who don't live on those streets driving by to check out the fire and the damage.

Kept busy at White Hall were Monongah fire chief Harless McCombs, Class of 1976; Harless’ brother, Bill McCombs, Class of 1969, is assistant fire chief.  

  Bill was elected mayor of Monongah but had to resign because it conflicted with his duties as water department chief. Harless is married to Monongah Middle School language arts teacher and children’s book author Lisa Myers McCombs, Class of 1977.

 
North Marion grad Jim Birdsell, grandson of Byron Birdsell, Class of 1947, and great-nephew of Bill
Birdsell, Class of 1950, is a Monongah fire captain. He had quadruple bypass heart surgery eight months ago. Jim is married to Angela and celebrated his birthday June 3. He said Monongah firefighters were on the scene for six hours.

At least they didn’t have to put out the fire for one of their own as the Monongah Fire Department did in December 2014 when the Riverview Avenue mobile home of Monongah firefighter Shawn Teets was set ablaze by an electrical fire in a bedroom. Shawn wasn’t hurt, but he was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and had to live elsewhere.

Fellow firefighter Shawn Parker opened an account for the other Shawn at Fairmont Federal Credit Union for anyone who wanted to donate to help out the burned-out Shawn.

Shawn Teets is a captain in the Marion County Department of Homeland Security. He studied biology at Fairmont State.