CAMPBELL COUNTY, Tenn. — Campbell County firefighters have been fighting several fires over the last week. And on Tuesday night, the Pinecrest community faced the most dangerous one, according to Deputy Chief Nick Nelson from Campbell County Rural Fire Service.
“Approximately four brush fires, [Tuesday] being the worst of the two, you know, with all the wind driving that,” Nelson said. “It was threatening several structures and with the wind driving it we were worried we couldn’t keep it contained.”
Several other fire departments from nearby came out for backup. The deputy chief said they called Jacksboro Fire Department first because they were closer to the scene and they wanted to get some help out there as soon as possible.
Caryville and LaFollette Fire Departments were also called in. Their biggest challenge was Mother Nature.
“With the wind blowing so hard we were just facing challenges,” he said. “We would cut a line in and it would blow past it and then you know you would have to play catch up.”
Campbell County Rural Fire Service operates on volunteers. When there’s a call for an emergency that can also create an extra challenge.
“You know everybody has a full-time job,” Nelson said. “So given the time and day you know there may be two or three of us available there may be 10 or 15 of us available.”
Nelson said right now it’s best to check with the county you live in if you could request a fire permit to burn something outside. For now, and with the help from surrounding fire departments, they were able to contain the fires and the rain helped them seal the deal.
“For the rest of the week you know if we didn’t get any rain, we were projecting to have a lot of brush and wildfires throughout the week,” he said.