Let me preface this by saying, on that day last week, the area was under a burn ban because of no recent rain, low humidity, and high winds.
I was working on my laptop while Brian was downstairs. He hollered, “Angie! Come outside!” I jumped up.
On the horizon, a HUGE wildfire was burning on top of Lookout Mountain. I knew it would not make it to us because it was six miles away (as the crow flies), and it would have to cross Interstate 59. I sat down in one of our rocking chairs to watch.
Just a few minutes later, I saw smoke coming from the valley! It was so close that it looked like it was coming from the woods behind our house. Brian was on his ATV. I started screaming his name. He couldn’t near me. Then, all of the sudden, the ATV died on its own. Divine intervention! I screamed his name again, and pointed at the smoke. Brian jumped up, and raced upstairs for a better look.
We couldn’t tell if it was someone burning trash on the property located on the other side of our woods, or if it was a forest fire.
Brian grabbed his keys, and drove all the way down there (you have to take a road that goes WAY out of the way to get down there). It was indeed a forest fire and forest management was already there with a bulldozer, digging a trench around the fire to try to prevent it from spreading.
The fire was on the other side of Murphy Hollow Road but that’s a small, 2-lane road lined and covered with trees and brush. And, at this time of year, there were plenty of dead leaves and sticks on the ground to provide tinder.
Brian talked to one of the forest management employees, who said, “Thank God we got the call when we did!”
Brian drove back home quickly. We then sat on the porch watching the smoke get more dense, and then less dense, and then more dense, etc., etc. Brian grabbed his drone, and flew it over the fire. We could see they had set the brush located right on the edge of the road on fire to try to keep it from getting out of control, and crossing the road.
After a couple of hours, the smoke had diminished quite a bit. I didn’t pack a bag while this was happening but Max and Mason both did. We were all freaking out!!!
The fire on Lookout Mountain was contained by the following morning, but was still burning. I think it took them another 2 days to put it out. Every time we looked outside, we could still see smoke. It ended up burning 250 acres.
Mason and I drove down Murphy Hollow Road on the way home from guitar and took these pics:
That picture immediately above shows where the bulldozer was entering the forest to dig the trench.
A few days later, we woke up to the sound of tons of sirens. I messaged the neighbors. Somebody found info. on Facebook from the Dade County Fire Department. A house was on fire on Murphy Hollow Road. We learned later that a woman died in the fire when she went inside to try to save her pet. 🙁
Next week, I’ll be posting a Bigfoot update.
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Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
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Happy the fire didn’t reach you and neighbors around you, Angela. So sorry the lady died trying to save her pet. I know it would be hard to NOT go back in if they didn’t get out, but —.
It’s pretty dry here in East Tennessee, too. Not much rain this fall.
Am anxious to hear if you learn any definitive information about the creature you saw. Bizarre.
God bless,
Sylvia Nickels