Fire spreads across Walden's Ridge

A controlled 30-acre fire became a 75-acre wildfire on Walden's Ridge on Thursday and authorities battling it say the region's official return to "drought" status is a tinderbox of trouble.

"I don't think people really understand just how dry it is," Tennessee Forest Technician Brian Haddock said Thursday as he worked with a fire crew along the steep slope of Walden's Ridge near the corners of Hamilton, Marion and Sequatchie counties.

"We haven't had any significant rainfall right here in this area since June or July," Haddock said. "We've got this one under control now, but this fire will still burn for days."

On Thursday morning, the Chattanooga area was officially placed under "moderate" and "severe" drought by the Drought Monitor report released from the U.S. Drought Mitigation Center.

That classification has prompted no-burn or careful-burn warnings from three states - Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.

"It is so extremely dry that [control lines that] would normally stop a fire are not enough now," said Tom Hudlow, area state forester for Bradley, Hamilton and Sequatchie counties. "The fires are burning several inches into the ground, and we're having to make the control (dig) lines wider and deeper."

What originally was called a 300-acre fire in Cumberland Trail State Park on Mowbray Mountain near Soddy-Daisy has been "contained and in mop-up" for several days, according to Tennessee State Parks Chief Ranger Shane Petty. Still, the estimated fire area has grown in that time to nearly 500 acres, he said.

The Georgia Forestry Commission has the entire state under at least a "high" fire danger rating, and the northwest corner of the state is classified "extreme" danger.

All of Alabama also is under a statewide fire alert, issued by the Alabama Forestry Commission, and DeKalb County has been one of the real hot spots, according to Jeff Keener, a forestry specialist headquartered at Fort Payne.

"Since Sept. 9, the county has had 41 fires that burned 350 acres," he said. "In each of the last three years, we had about 20 fires a year. Normally, a busy year for us would be 40 fires, but this year we've had that in just a little over a month."

Not only is the Chattanooga area back under drought classification, but the region is in the middle of its third-driest autumn in the 83-year historical record, according to climate data.

"The middle of August is about when the faucet turned off," said William Schmitz, service climatologist for the Southeastern Regional Climate Center in Chapel Hill, N.C.

By the beginning of September, dry conditions began creeping into the area officially, according to the drought reports.

Last week's report only showed drought conditions in North Alabama and south central Tennessee. This week, a swath of 23 counties are classified as "moderate" drought, starting in the east with Polk and Monroe and heading west to Rutherford and Lincoln.

HOW DRY?* Chattanooga is currently 13.42 inches below the average rainfall total for the year to date.* Since Sept. 1, Chattanooga has received only 1.25 inches of rain, which trails only 1931 and 1938 as the driest years on the record.* In the same timeframe in 2007, when the region's historic three-year drought was at its worst, the city received 2.45 inches - nearly twice as much as this year.Source: Southeastern Regional Climate Center

Gov. Phil Bredesen on Thursday requested a designation of natural disaster for agriculture in 12 more drought-stricken counties, including Meigs, Bledsoe, McMinn and Warren counties. Other counties in the request include Roane, Monroe, Benton, Blount, Carroll, Greene, Loudon and Weakley.

In Georgia the entire western edge of the state east to Murray County is in the "moderate" drought category with a portion of Dade, Walker and Chattooga counties listed as "severe" drought.

Almost all of Alabama is under "moderate" drought, but parched DeKalb County and parts of Jackson County are classified as "severe."

National long-range weather forecasts don't offer much comfort.

On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its forecast for the winter, predicting the La Niña effect would lead to a drier, warmer winter for the Southeast.

The forecast states the dry winter weather will "likely exacerbate drought conditions" in the South and that Southern states are at risk of having "above normal wildfire conditions" through the spring.

But climatologist Schmitz said there is hope.

"If we can sneak in one tropical system, it would bring some much needed relief," he said.

In Tennessee, Chief Ranger Petty said park officials are hoping for some rain next week because the park system's fire season has come early and hard and conditions are "dire."

"We are going into what is traditionally our fire season, the week or two before Halloween is really our toughest time," he said, "so that's why we're continuing our fire ban in the back-country wilderness areas and urging people [statewide] to be extremely careful with any burning. And with cigarette butts."

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