Latest Updates on Hamilton County Fires

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- The skies are some-what clear once again, after days of smoky clouds covered the Hamilton County area.

It’s day ten for the wildfires in our area, and months for the dozens scattered across our state.

But this morning, most of us were pleasantly surprised to walk outside and find less smoke, and clean air.

It’s the first clear day in Hamilton County, after three separate wildfires started more than a week ago, covering the area with smoky clouds.

Julie Allen, who is a local Public Information Officer stated, “We’ve got good containment on all three of those fires, uh I think the weather helped out a lot today with the dissipation of the smoke.”

Florida Forestry Public Information Officer Julie Allen, says the wildfires on both Poe Road and Mowbray Mountain are about 70 percent under control, while the fire on Flippers Bend was last reported this morning as being more than 95 percent under control.

But due to severe dry weather conditions, officials continue to urge everyone to be cautious and careful around open flames and debris.

“On a scale from zero to 800, 800 being a desert, the state of Tennessee is well over 750. So we want people to take the time and clean those leaves out of your gutters. Get the, you know, the leaf litter off of your roofs. Make sure that you’re cleaning up around your home, so in the event that there is a fire in your area–you know, one uh ember from a fire gets into that leaf litter it could uh potentially burn your home down. So now is the time to clean up,” says Julie.

But of course, the Eastern part of Tennessee is still under a very strict burn ban, and burning permits are no longer being issued in the state until further notice.

“It’s a great indicator that the the state of Tennessee is serious about trying to restrict the amount of wildfires that are happening here in the state of Tennessee, and and it’s it’s important that the the community gets involved and becomes a little bit more proactive about uh keeping these wildfires uh at a lower risk,” said Julie.

Also, because of the severe dry weather conditions, officials told me it could take a large amount of rain to finally stop the wildfires from spreading for good.