The U.S. Forest Service is alerting people in Northeast Tennessee about plans to burn thousands of acres of land. The planned burns include nearly 2,500 acres of forest in Unicoi, Carter and Sullivan Counties.
The goal is to set fires that are easy to control to get rid of leaves and debris that could fuel a forest fire that can’t be controlled.
“While it seems a little bit dry, that’s the opportunities that we want to take,” Unaka district ranger Leslie Morgan said. “We watch the weather forecasts very carefully, and we want to make sure we’re going to have some precipitation coming in behind it.”
The weather conditions are something forest service officials are tracking every day. That’s why there is no specific schedule for the burns. It could be any time between now and January 1.