LaFOLLETTE, Tenn.-- Hundreds of acres continue to burn in Campbell County and officials have had to call in reinforcements.
The largest fire started Friday afternoon on Highway 25W when a debris fire got out of control.
The flames spread over McLoud Rock, about a mile away from where it ended up on Cumberland Mountain.
Now crews are putting in dozer lines and backfire to keep the flames from spreading.
Burning an estimated 1,000 acres before crews contained it, the McLoud Rock--Cumberland Mountain fire is the largest of Campbell County's four forest fires and the hardest to contain because of the limestone bluffs.
"You can't get off of them, you have to get around them," said Gary Mundy, a forestry technician with the state Division of Forestry.
"Out here we probably have a mile of straightline bluffs. We've got to go to the other end, and come out and work it down, which makes the fire larger because you can't get down the mountain."
Dozers do most of the containment work on the accessible parts of the mountain, cutting fire lines and knocking down dead burning trees.
A 20-man inmate crew from Brushy Mountain state prison in Petros was brought in to do the steep work.
"We took them to the top of the mountain. They're mopping up the 25 side, both blanks cutting out the dead snags that would possibly cause another fire," said Mundy.
With four working fires in the county, crews have had to ask for help. And firefighters in neighboring counties have several other fires on their hands.
"We have 12 counties in our district," says Mundy. "Yesterday we had 8 or 9 of them helping us out."
With resources stretched thin, Mundy worries about what this spring has in store. "If it ends up being a dry spring it'll end up being a long haul."
Republished with permission of WATE-TV.
