Area Fire Departments Fight Numerous Brush Fires

Fire crews around the area are getting to take a breath this morning after a long weekend. Friday afternoon, two brush fires broke out in Cocke County. The first was in the Catons Grove area around Wildwood Drive. The Cocke County Fire Departments responded along with Cosby and Grassy Fork. The Forestry service also joined in the effort. While that fire burned into Friday night and Saturday, a second fire broke out Friday evening near Hall’s Top Rd in the Grassy Fork area. Del Rio, Parrottsville and other departments responded to that fire which was contained early Saturday while the fire in Caton’s Grove continued to burn during the day on Saturday.

Then another fire broke out in the Rocky Flats area in Sevier County. That fire jumped the county line into Cocke County in the Ball Hollow area. That fire would eventually consume 177 acres and forcing two rental cabins to be evacuated. The light rainfall helped in the firefighting efforts. As of this morning, that fire is now 90% contained.

Over the weekend, Cocke County EMA Director Joe Esway placed the county at Threat Level 3 and drones were grounded in Cocke County as helicopters made their way in to help with the firefighting efforts. The Cocke County Sheriff’s office put out a warning to citizens via their Facebook page, telling citizens not to burn anything or face a citation as fire crews were having to respond to smaller brush fires after people were burning debris on their properties. Currently due to the extremely dry conditions, the state of Tennessee is not issuing burn permits.