ONANCOCK, VA - The first of up to 22 blighted buildings in Onancock’s Bayside community was taken down Friday in a controlled burn conducted by the Onancock Volunteer Fire Department.
A local nonprofit organization has been working since 2018 to revitalize the Bayside community outside Onancock. The Accomack County Board of Supervisors awarded the group $150,000 to in March 2025 to fund the demolition of derelict structures in the three-mile-long community.
"A lot of people … are heirs to the property owners that were here previously,” Onancock Bayside Revitalization President Myra Riley-Taylor said. Many former property owners are deceased, and their heirs have relocated, making the title search required to obtain demolition consent challenging.
The Onancock Volunteer Fire Department agreed to conduct 8 controlled burns in the community. The first, on Friday, was a home already partially collapsed in a fire last year.
"It is the home of two brothers, so we wanted to get this one completed so that they could get a new home,” Riley-Taylor said.
The burn also functioned as an educational exercise for fire academy trainees.
"We have several people in our department that are going through fire training right now,” Fire Chief Michael Rydberg said. and “It's good for them to be able to operate hand lines, work on some pump operations and water supply operations, and it gets them up close to see how fire happens."
The Onancock Volunteer Fire Department hopes to complete controlled burns on 7 other structures within the week. The remaining 14 structures will likely be demolished.