By Joy Lukachick
The Chattanooga Times Free Press
WALKER COUNTY, Tenn. — A small, unattended campfire caused the largest forest fire in Walker County this year.
“This is the biggest one we’ve seen this year,” said Steve Blackwell, chief ranger of the Georgia Forestry Commission for Walker County.
From Sunday until Tuesday, the fire burned through 148 acres on Lookout Mountain.
“Normally we keep fires to two to three acres,” he said.
There already have been 34 fires in Walker County in this fiscal year, which began in July, he said. Last year, there were a total of 29 forest fires for the entire fiscal year, he said.
After three days and 260 man-hours, forestry workers were able to contain the fire Tuesday by using two bulldozers to plow firebreaks at the foot and the top of Lookout Mountain, Blackwell said.
Fire investigators found a small campfire about three feet in diameter near the top of the mountain, he said. The campfire had been abandoned, and there was no way to tell who had started it, he said.
Lula Lake Trust Fund owns the land, and the owners told officials they don’t allow people to camp on their property, Blackwell said. But the area is secluded, he added.
The landowners could not be reached for comment.
No one will be charged for the fire because campfires are legal, Blackwell said.
In Georgia, anyone burning vegetation must have a permit, but small cooking or warming fires are exempt from that law, he said.
Anyone burning illegally would have been responsible for the $30,000 cost of fighting the fire, Blackwell said.
The fire was first spotted Sunday about 3 p.m.. and Walker County firefighters battled the blaze until the Georgia Forestry Commission took over, said Walker County Fire Chief Randy Camp.
The fire department assisted the forestry commission’s efforts until the fire was so far into the woods that firetrucks couldn’t get through the trees, Camp said.
Forestry workers had to leave the fire Sunday about 10 p.m. because it was burning along a cliffside that was too steep to work in the dark, Blackwell said. For the next two days, firefighters, along with Hays State Prison inmates, dug firebreaks to stop the fire, he said.
Foam was used to stop the fire from destroying three communication towers on top of the mountain, and a firebreak prevented a house in the middle of the woods from being damaged, Blackwell said.
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