By SUSAN WHEELDON, CJ Staff Writer
A forest fire, which began on Sunday, continues to burn in Southern Pulaski County.
Tateville Fire Chief Jim Howard said the Tateville Volunteer Fire Department received the call about the fire off of Keno Road on Sunday afternoon.
Howard said after they received the call the department responded to the scene and tired to get the fire under control, as well as also calling the U.S. Forestry Service since the land is forest land in the Daniel Boone National Forest.
“Whenever they showed up we turned over the scene to them,” said Howard.
Fred Noack, U.S. Forest Service district ranger for the Stearns District, said 50 to 55 acres of forest is burning currently.
“It was an arson start,” said Noack, “and we do not know who did it.”
Noack said the U.S. Forest Service arrived on the scene Sunday evening and then on Monday not only were members of the forest service from the Stearns district on the scene, but also a 20 person hand crew from Oklahoma.
“We secured the fire line and burned out any unburned fuel in the area (on Monday),” said Noack.
Noack explained they generally don’t try to put out such a fire with water, because the area is to large and generally that is only used with smaller fires or structure fires.
“We use natural or man made barriers for a fire line (to stop the fire),” said Noack.
He explained with this fire the barriers include a train track on one side and roads on the other sides, as well as cliffs. Noack also said on Sunday evening to make sure and limit the hazard to firefighters they could only go so far on the scene, because of the cliff lines in the area.
“We want to limit the hazards to firefighters, so it is best to manage your wildfire from a safe secure anchor point,” said Noack.
Noack said as of Tuesday the members of the forest service we’re monitoring the fire.
“We’re monitoring to make sure the fire stays within the fire line,” said Noack.
Noack said the fire should not get any larger, but will smolder within the boundaries, noting that unless a significant amount of rain falls they will continue to monitor the fire for another week at least.
As for the fire being looked at as an arson, Noack said law enforcement with the U.S. Forest Service is investigating the incident.
“We want to encourage anyone to call in anything they know about an arsonist to stop this from happening,” said Noack.
