By Mike O’Neal
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Copyright 2007 Chattanooga Publishing Company
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Wildfires this weekend provided residents of Alexian Village on Signal Mountain a sound and light show as fire burned steep slopes of the Middle Creek gorge.
The daylong crackle of blazing tree trunks was drowned out temporarily at sunset by the roar of a heavy aircraft dropping its payload of fire retardant chemicals in an effort to check the slowly spreading woodland fire.
Flickering flames burned and blackened dense woods from the creekside to the top of southeast-facing bluffs since the fire started Saturday, according to Robert Rhinehart, assistant district forester for Southeast Tennessee.
“We’ve been having problems on the flanks,” Mr. Rhinehart said in midafternoon. “They were hoping to hold it at Middle Creek.”
Helicopters on loan from the Georgia Forestry Commission dropped water on the fire in efforts to cool things enough to allow Tennessee Division of Forestry ground crews to cut fire breaks on the near-vertical terrain.
“This morning it was nasty, thick smoke,” said Dr. Jim Lopez as he surveyed flames and smoke across the gorge from where he was visiting at Alexian Village. “I’m glad it’s not coming up here.”
Dr. Ed Lusk, a resident at Alexian Village, said he had watched the flames from his back window and wondered how people would be evacuated if the fire spread to the Signal Mountain side of Middle Creek.
“You’d think there would not be enough to burn -- it’s all rock,” Dr. Lusk said.
Because hand rakes are nearly useless on rock, firefighters were using 30 pound backpack-mounted leaf blowers to clear away anything flammable in the path of advancing flames, Mr. Rhinehart said.
The fire had grown to cover more than 150 acres when the light wind shifted and fire crossed to the eastern side of the creek on Walden’s Ridge, which prompted a call from Mr. Rhinehart.
“It crossed Middle Creek southwest of Alexian and is climbing the mountain toward houses near Signal Point,” he said. “We’ve ordered an air tanker to make a fire retardant drop.”
Just before sunset, a four-engine aircraft flew into the gorge and spilled its orange shower of chemicals in an attempt to check the fires advance.
“That’s the first time we’ve called for an aerial drop since 1991,” Mr. Rhinehart said.
Clay Davis, who lives on East Brow Road which on the other side of the mountain, said he woke up Saturday to the smell of smoke and came Sunday to see its cause.
“I haven’t seen anything like it and I’ve lived in Chattanooga all my life,” Mr. Davis said. “It’s a wonder we don’t have more (wildfires) as dry as it is.”
Winter withered vegetation providing fuel for fires in a drought stricken area is making wildfire a constant concern, officials said.
Chattanooga had a record high temperature of 88 degrees Sunday, besting the 87 degree reading recorded in 1929, and more hot, dry days are expected until the upcoming weekend, according to Doug Schneider, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn.
“There is a chance of scattered afternoon showers Tuesday and Wednesday but no chance of significant rain until Saturday,” he said.
Only 6.28 inches of precipitation has been recorded in 2007 instead of the 30-year norm of 15.34 inches -- a deficit of 9.06 inches, Mr. Schneider said.
More wildfires are expected as drought conditions worsen and the vegetation in many forested areas remains dry.
No major fires were reported in northwest Georgia.
In Alabama, a fire that burned about 1,200 acres on Low Gap Mountain, caused by someone burning debris, was contained Sunday as were arson fires in the Bryant area and a 50-acre fire on Sand Mountain at Buck’s Pocket, according to Linda Reaves, a radio operator for the Alabama Forestry Commission.
“We’re praying for rain,” she said. “That’s the only thing that will stop this.”