Wildfire burning on Walden's Ridge

A brush fire burns up the side of Walden's Ridge on Sunday, March 29, 2015, in Soddy-Daisy. The fire started around 5 p.m., and winds caused it to spread up and over the bluff at Mowbray Mountain.
A brush fire burns up the side of Walden's Ridge on Sunday, March 29, 2015, in Soddy-Daisy. The fire started around 5 p.m., and winds caused it to spread up and over the bluff at Mowbray Mountain.

Some 30 to 40 acres of forest was ablaze Sunday evening in Soddy-Daisy behind a mobile home park near Wal-Mart Drive, west of Dayton Pike.

The fire started around 5 p.m. Sunday. By 7:30 p.m., firefighters from at least five companies dug trenches to make sure the fire didn't reach the trailer park.

The fire went straight up a steep slope on the side of Walden's Ridge and was hard to extinguish. Soddy-Daisy Fire Chief Mike Guffey said the fire companies and police would watch it overnight. He was hoping for rain to come and help put out the fire.

Firefighters from Walden's Ridge Emergency Services and the Dallas Bay, Mowbray Mountain, Sale Creek and Sequoyah fire departments turned out to help battle the blaze.

As of late Sunday night, no one had been hurt and no homes damaged. Guffey said the cause is still under investigation.

Several residents who live in the Wal-Mart Drive trailer park suspect the fire was caused by young people playing in the forest.

Dakota Brock, who watched the fire near his mobile home, said neighbors suspect two teenagers seen running out of the woods may have sparked the blaze.

"I hope it doesn't get to the trailers," the 16-year-old said.

Tricia Sweatt, who was watching the fire from her car, shared her neighbors' belief that the fire was set.

"It's a shame that people have to do that," she said.

Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman atyputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.

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