Tennessee’s Wildfire Season is off to a Brisk Start

The Tennessee wildfire season is here, but a hot and dry summer brought an early start.

East Tennessee has been hardest hit, with fires burning more than 23,000 acres.

Firefighters contained a wildfire that covered about 250 acres Wednesday in Hawkins County. No structures were damaged though some were threatened, said forester John Henderson.

A wildfire Tuesday blackened 140 acres in Marion County.

Assistant district forester Robert Rhinehart of the state Forestry Division’s Chattanooga region says the exceptional drought conditions bring on a situation in which almost anything will start a fire _ downed power lines, a mower striking a rock and throwing sparks or a flat tire running on a wheel rim.

Officials say in a normal year, Tennessee will have 2,800 blazes which will consume about 30,000 acres.

Fires have already burned 41,249 acres statewide.

Burn permits are required statewide because of the dry conditions, Henderson said. Some counties are not issuing them because of the danger.

“We’re asking people to be extra careful,” Henderson said.

Information from: Chattanooga Times Free Press,

http://www.timesfreepress.com