02/11/2026
On Saturday morning, February 7th, 2026 at 11:35 crews from Bridgewater, Cloverhill, Mt Solon, and Rockingham County were alerted for a structure fire on Spring Creek Road. The first crew arrived within eight minutes of being dispatched and within 15 minutes of dispatch there were four engines, and dozens of personnel on the scene working to extinguish the fire. Those crews were being supported by three tankers, which would later grow to seven tankers, and one pumper/tanker. The cold and the wind added layers of complexity to the incident, yet we worked through them as each challenge arose. One example was that several tankers had to be given time to thaw out during the incident.
The total amount of water used exceeded 200,000 gallons, in the first 24 hours of the incident and required over 70 round trips by tankers to move the water from the filling sites in town to the dump site on the scene. (Once an accurate talley is available, we will edit the post with the quantity moved per unit listed)
- Tanker 15 – Bridgewater
- Tanker 214 – Mt Solon
- Tanker 17 – Cloverhill
- Tanker 41 – Hose Company #4
- Tanker 209 – Grottoes
- Tanker 50 – Weyers Cave
- Tanker 912 – RCFR Fulks Run Station
- Engine 216 – Mt Solon
In addition to those already listed crews from Hose Company #4, RCFR Fulks Run Station, and RCFR Station 10 (North Valley Pike), Harrisonburg Fire Department Engine 2 (Pleasant Valley) and other support units from the agencies already listed assisted.
We deeply thank everyone who helped, from all agencies involved from the fire fighters, to the Rockingham County Sheriffs Deputies, Bridgewater Public Works, and VDOT. We specifically appreciate the volume of food that was donated, Domino’s Pizza from multiple donors, catering businesses who donated breakfast food, to the food that was willingly prepared by community members, or relatives of the firefighters, who delivered prepared meals to the scene.
The initial incident was closed out approximately 30 hours after it was dispatched. Crews continued to work on scene with routine visits extinguishing hot spots for into Wednesday morning. Moving 9,000 gallons of water a day on Monday and Tuesday, and a final 3,000 gallons on Wednesday morning.
In recap many community members, and firefighters compared this to the fire in October of 1998 that destroyed Mill Cabinet Shop. While we have too many variables to feel comfortable with making comparisons to other fires. It is beyond a doubt the biggest fire in the Bridgewater area in recent memory because of how much water and manpower was needed to handle this incident.
