As dry weather continues to make its mark on East Tennessee, Loudon County became another in a long line of communities to institute a burn ban.
“Of the counties that touch us, as far as I know, we were the last one to implement a burn ban,” Rolen “Buddy” Bradshaw, Loudon County mayor, said.
State Agriculture Commissioner Jai Templeton also issued a burn ban Nov. 4 for Loudon, Claiborne, Jefferson and Sevier counties.
“Due to dry conditions and little prospect for rain, firefighters are seeing an increase in fire activity across the state,” Templeton said. “The public should use good judgment and avoid situations that cause fire and put citizens, property and emergency workers at risk.”
The ban encompasses all open-air fires, including campfires, cooking fires, burn barrels and charcoal- or wood-fired grills.
Violation of the ban is punishable as a Class A misdemeanor, which could result in a fine of $2,500 and/or up to 11 months, 29 days in jail.
The local decision came days after a fire in Monroe County dumped smoke into Loudon County.
Additional fires started across the area within the past 10 days, with reports of fires in Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Knox, McMinn, Monroe and Sevier counties.
Mike Hodge, assistant chief with the Loudon County Fire & Rescue Squad, as well as Greenback Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ronnie Lett, confirmed there were no reported fires in Loudon County.
Loudon County is listed under severe to extreme drought conditions, according to the National Weather Service.
NWS in Morristown reported just 0.18 inches of rain during October, which is about 2.33 inches short of the average. About 0.14 inches of that fell in one 24-hour period Oct. 20-21.
“October was the third-driest month for (the National Weather Service satellite site) in Lenoir City going back to 1948,” Jeremy Buckles, meteorologist with the NWS in Morristown, said.
Short-term forecasts don’t predict much of a turnaround for rainfall despite cold fronts moving through the area that would normally bring moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, Buckles said.
“Even when we’ve had fronts move through there really hasn’t been a lot of moisture with it,” he said. “Really for the next week, week and a half, which is really the best we can do as far as short-term forecasts go, that’s really going to continue.”
While there was a 20-30 chance of rain from a cold front moving through last week, Buckles said even the areas that did see rain weren’t likely to see much.
Even when rainfall does come, it will take a lot to reverse the damage done by the recent drought.
“This drought has been so long and so consistent this year that’s it’s going to take a lot of rain to fully alleviate it,” Buckles said. “Even when we do get rain, it’s not going to be a quick turnaround.”
Because of that, Buckles stressed that burn bans should be taken seriously.
“Any kind of fire right now, even a spark, can really, really cause a high risk for wildfires,” Buckles said.
The current burn ban will remain in effect until further notice.
“It’s just so dry that we felt any outside burning was just too big a risk,” Bradshaw said. “... From a safety standpoint, I just felt like that was the best thing to do.”
