A wildfire located approximately one mile south of Van Buren kept volunteers in the area busy on Friday. According to Curt Majors, Carter County Emergency Management Director, the land that caught fire was privately owned.
“Essentially we got a report of quite a bit of smoke in town,” explained Majors. “We went out and investigated and had to walk in a few miles to find the fire, but it was not a controlled burn or intentional fire. It was definitely lit by someone and left.”
The fire took several entities to extinguish.
“I think we had six volunteer firefighters, the fire department, the National Park Service, the Department of Conservation, and the U.S. Forest Service all came to help us,” said Majors.
It is believed the fire began sometime late Thursday and burned slowly through the night due to the higher humidity. As the humidity dropped on Friday, it started burning faster, explained Majors. The exact origin of the fire was not located, “but it was definitely set, it was in the middle of the woods, and there’s no other way for it to happen,” said Majors.
He reported the fire destroyed 58 acres of land and trees.
As opposed to controlled burns, wildfires damage scenic parks and forests, and can harm local wildlife and available area resources. Preventing wildfires is simple and imperative.
“Make sure you have a plan when burning. Make sure conditions are favorable for controlling your fire, and make sure you have plenty of resources before you do that,” urged Majors.
According to Majors, the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service rely heavily on volunteer firefighters to keep parks and forests safe.