North Warren Fire Department Chief Raymond Roberts described the scene of the Warren County wildfire as “controlled chaos.”
Roberts was incident command over the response that started early Monday morning and continued until Tuesday night. Roberts said he issued a state mutual aid request and crews from across the Upper Cumberland responded to the call.
“On the ground it was very calm,” Roberts said. “You would think people were chaotic, but they weren’t. All of these departments that is what we train for. Being able to have all these additional departments that you’ve never even seen before much less trained with, everybody worked together.”
Roberts said the main tactic to slow the flames was to burn vegetation around the main fire to reduce its fuel. Roberts said crews also created fire lines to protect structures by creating a gap in vegetation so the fire could not spread.
“We had several crews from the Upper Cumberland,” Roberts said. “We were able to keep the fire off of people’s homes and get everybody evacuated. We got a little rain at the end that really helped us solidify our fire lines.”
Roberts said it was the first wildfire that he has worked. Roberts said he was on the scene for 12 hours Monday and the entire day Tuesday. Roberts said from the experience, he saw first hand why they call Tennessee the Volunteer State.
“We live in an awesome community, Roberts said. “If you ask for help, you will get it. Not only from emergency services, but from local folks findings everybody and retail stores reaching out. Just how everybody came together and if I asked for anything, we had it in just a matter of minutes.”
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