CLEVELAND, Tenn. — With wildfires blazing out of control in California and elsewhere, Tennessee firefighters are on the lines in four states.
"We have dispatched about 35 people through this office to California, Texas, North Carolina and Virginia," said Laney Cutshaw, manager of the Tennessee Interagency Coordination Center in Cleveland.
Mr. Cutshaw said firefighters have been dispatched from the U.S. Forest Service, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Tennessee Division of Forestry and the Jacobs Creek Job Corps Center in Bristol, Tenn.
"We have gotten three more calls today, and the Cherokee Hot Shots are preparing to leave for the fires next week," Mr. Cutshaw said Monday. The Hot Shots has a 20-man crew.
Terry McDonald, public relations director for the Cherokee National Forest, is a longtime firefighter who temporarily is working in fire management in California's Lassen National Forest.
"There are a total of 12,000 firefighters here and 15,000 nationally," Mr. McDonald said in a telephone interview Sunday.
Mr. McDonald said he's working on what's called the Peterson Complex, in which two big fires are expected to join on 8,000 acres.
He said lightning from thunderstorms is sparking blazes around the state, but the rain that comes with the storms evaporates before it touches the ground.
"It was 102 degrees yesterday with only 18 percent humidity, and we are expecting more lightning storms," he said.
Mr. Cutshaw said he expects more Tennessee firefighters to be sent to all the areas over the next few weeks unless the fire situation changes.
He said 17 Cherokee National Forest personnel are on duty in the various states, including eight in California, and three more are being sent to the fire lines today.
Fortunately, he said, there isn't a current fire problem in southeastern forests.
"The rain has been spotty," he said, adding that North Carolina and Virginia are having more fires than usual for the time of year.
Only one small fire was reported in the Cherokee National Forest last week, and that one was in the Ocoee District.
But that could change fast if rain stays away, Mr. Cutshaw said.
Copyright 2008 Chattanooga Publishing Company
