The Tennessee Division of Forestry reports that 87 percent of the state’s population is currently exposed to some level of wildfire risk as Wildfire Community Preparedness Day takes place Saturday.
Division of Forestry’s Megan Carpenter said the majority of Tennessee wildfires occur in the eastern half of the state and the Upper Cumberland region due to the local topography. Carpenter said fire moves faster when traveling uphill, making the hilly terrain of the Upper Cumberland particularly vulnerable to rapid spread.
“As development is growing in Tennessee and we see more and more communities stretching out into the edges of wildland areas,” Carpenter said, “We’re seeing the wildland fire interface grow, and that’s really just what we call that that area of development that’s on the edge of wildland areas.”
The state’s primary wildfire season typically runs from October through May. Carpenter said the current window at the end of the season provides a vital opportunity for communities to learn about their specific fire risks and take steps to reduce the impact of potential fires.
“The vast majority of wildfires in Tennessee are sparked by escape debris burns, whether folks burnt when it was not safe or they didn’t take adequate safety precautions,” Carpenter said. “And then those fires get out of hand and and they go they start their way uphill and they move pretty quickly.”
Carpenter said risk levels are determined by a complex assessment of factors including humidity, rainfall, and fuel moisture. Carpenter said the leaf litter layer provided by hardwood trees serves as a primary fuel source for fires during the fall and early spring.
“Taking these steps can literally be the difference between your home standing or not standing in the event of a wildfire,” Carpenter said. “We’ve actually in the last year or two seen some situations where there’ve been fires that were coming up a hill, they were coming up toward a neighborhood, and there just happened to be somebody who had done a they’d cleared some land, they cleared out and thinned out some trees, and lo and behold that fire stopped and didn’t end up impacting their property because they’d removed that fuel that the fire could’ve burned.”
Carpenter said community-wide preparedness involves more than just individual property maintenance, including investments in infrastructure like improved road signs. Carpenter said clear signage helps first responders locate fires quickly and assists residents in identifying evacuation routes during emergencies.
“Forests give a lot to our state,” Carpenter said. “They they provide important raw materials to the forest industry, which by the way employs 94,000 people in our state. It’s it’s very important. Forests are also a home for wildlife and they provide incredible opportunities for recreation and rejuvenation for people.”
Carpenter said residents clearing debris should obtain a free, legally required burn permit at burnsafeTN.org. Carpenter said anyone burning yard waste must stay with the fire at all times and keep tools such as rakes, shovels, or water nearby to contain the flames.
“We don’t want those those debris piles from working to reduce fire risk to your home to actually start a fire start a wildfire,” Carpenter said. “So if you do burn debris that you are clearing from around your home, first good for you doing the work to remove that debris, but second make sure that you’re doing that debris burning legally and safely.”