From NewsChannel 9: After days of fighting flames and smoke, fire crews in Rhea County are now in the control and clean-up process of a wildfire t
From NewsChannel 9: After days of fighting flames and smoke, fire crews in Rhea County are now in the control and clean-up process of a wildfire that covered 210 acres of land on the Cumberland trail.
The fire is near Pocket Wilderness Road in Rhea County, and has now been raging for 3 days.
“Our main concern right now is controlling that fire, getting it to stay where it’s currently at,” says Kimberly Burch, TN Fire Logistics Specialist.
Forestry officials tell us the fire is 90 percent contained.
“We’re going to go back out and see if we can find out where the point of origin is. And then we can find out if it’s natural causes or human causes,” says Burch.
Burch says that the combination of dry conditions and unseasonably high temperatures could be the cause, and could even put the area at risk of going back up in flames.
“Because what can eventually happen is, because of all the leaf fall, it can actually cause a reburn,” she says.
“We actually started thinking about an exit plan.”
Bill and Annette Van Horn live up on a mountain near the Cumberland Trail where the fire spread.
Early Saturday morning, they woke up in terror.
“We didn’t really know what else we could do other than call 911.”
For them, the view of the flames was right in there back yard.
They expressed their gratitude for the fire crews.
