Fire crews from around the state, including local volunteers, have been challenged by the recent dry weather and outbreak of woods fires.

Just within the last week, Walker County crews have fought brush or woods fires on Hwy. 151 in Naomi, Probasco Street in LaFayette, Chamberlain Road off 193, and one today on Halls Valley Road – among dozens of other smaller fires.

Local law enforcement is also pressed by idiots who continue to light up, responding to a half dozen illegal outdoor burns in just one day.

Regionally, fires have continued to burn on Rocky Face Ridge in Whitfield County, and atop Lookout Mountain in Dade and parts of Walker. The Tatum Gulf fire atop Lookout briefly required residents of Highland Subdivision in Dade to evacuate, although no homes were lost there. (That blaze is expected to keep burning through the end of the month.)

Many of the fire fighters working in state forest land are actually prisoners, men who have taken fire fighter training behind bars and volunteered to come battle the flames. Others have been brought in from out of state to help locals, especially with the largest fires.

243 people battling the Cohutta Wilderness fire are preparing to spend the Thanksgiving holiday away from their families. They are, instead, working 16-hour shifts during two week assignments to stay on top of a monster blaze that could put the homes of others at risk.

That inferno has now burned over 28,000 acres of forest land – that’s over five times larger than Chickamauga Battlefield. The blaze is now about 40% contained.

Comparatively, Walker County has been shielded from the worse of these fires – but without significant rain, a deluge of small fires will continue.                         

In response to the fires and drought, commissioners of Walker, Chattooga, Dade, Catoosa and other counties around the region issued temporary bans on all outdoor fires.

(All county burning restrictions were worded similarly, but several counties had trouble getting the message across to citizens – this post from Walker County, which was also reverse-911 texted to citizens, referred to an “Outdoor Fire Band.” To be fair, Dade was no better, misspelling “Fire Departmenst” in its own text to residents.)

LaFayette’s city council went a step beyond the county, banning all outdoor fires, plus asking law enforcement to ticket those seen tossing cigarette butts out their car windows.

(If you see somebody burning anything outside, or tossing out cigarette butts, call your respective law enforcement agencies or non-emergency 911.)

WQCH Radio, 11/14/16: “IN THE FACE OF FIRE DANGER FROM DROUGHT CONDITIONS, THE LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL AUTHORIZED AN IMMEDIATE BAN ON ALL OUTDOOR BURNING UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. POLICE WILL EVEN STOP MOTORISTS OBSERVED ‘FLICKING CIGARETTES’ OUT THE WINDOW – A “ZERO TOLERANCE” BAN ON ALL TYPES OF OUTDOOR BURNING.”

Walker County schools didn’t disrupt class for the smokey conditions as some hoped, but is asking parents to keep kids inside until the bus arrives, to limit their exposure to smoke.

The bus will wait on kids to come out, which means it might run late. Kids who ride the bus and arrive to school late for this reason will not be marked absent.

At the state level, Governor Deal banned fireworks for most of the dry state. Deal also included many counties (including Walker) in a “Level 2” drought, which means you’re restricted in days of the week you can water your grass. (As if you watered grass anyway.)

It’s unclear if restrictions apply to private wells, or only public water.             

Bebe Heiskell concedes that Shannon Whitfield beat her in the election, and says he won the vote “fair and square” by a huge margin. She says they’re working together on a transition.

Heiskell tells reporters she wants to “tie up as many loose ends” as she can before leaving office at the end of December, which could be bad news for people who opposed her or her plans.

You thought she was bad before? Now she’s got nothing to lose by doing whatever she can get away with. Lots of projects she’s been putting off for political reasons might come to a head in the next few weeks while everyone is distracted by the holidays.

You haven’t seen government waste until you see what all Bebe can accomplish unfettered in the next six weeks.

She has an unfinished fire station in Hinkle, an unfinished walking trail on Lookout Mountain, a half-remodeled office building in LaFayette where the tax office used to be, and maybe some contracts to hand out to friends or family.

As sole commissioner, she has no restrictions on what she can do through December, other than the law – which she’s never really seemed to care much about.

Step one? Using the power of government to take away private land atop Lookout Mountain that has kept her from finishing Bobby Davenport’s walking trail/driveway – a step Heiskell took during last Thursday’s business meeting while Commissioner-Elect Whitfield sat silently and watched.       

Another devastating fire, apparently unrelated to the dry conditions, has left a family of six homeless.

The house at 79 Country Estates Rd, off York Road near Round Pond, caught fire on November 14th and – despite the best efforts of fire crews – was completely destroyed.

The Clark family moved into that home from out of state only a few months ago. They bought the house in July, and in November lost everything they own to flames.

Fire inspectors say the home collapsed into its basement, making it difficult for the fire’s specific cause to be determined. That could potentially keep the family from being compensated by insurance.

Jackson Realty and LaFayette First Methodist are both collecting donations for the Clarks – but they have already received all the clothing they can use.         

More strife inside LaFayette Public Safety.

WQCH Radio, 11/15/16: “THE CITY OF LAFAYETTE FIRE CHIEF IS OFF THE JOB, HAVING BEEN PLACED ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE.

“CITY MANAGER DAVID HAMILTON SAID THE ACTION INVOLVING CHIEF ROBERT BUSBY TOOK PLACE ABOUT TWO WEEKS AGO, AND THAT POLICE CHIEF BENJI CLIFT IS SERVING AS THE INTERIM CHIEF OVER THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.

“BECAUSE IT INVOLVES A PERSONNEL MATTER, HAMILTON SAID THERE IS VERY LITTLE HE CAN DISCLOSE ABOUT THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE ACTION, OR WHETHER THE CHIEF IS UNDER INVESTIGATION.

“BUSBY HAS BEEN FIRE CHIEF SINCE LAFAYETTE’S PUBLIC SERVICE DEPARTMENT REVERTED BACK TO SEPARATE POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS AROUND FIVE YEARS AGO.”

LU currently has no information on what Busby is in trouble over. Hopefully he will return soon.

If Chief Busby DOESN’T come back, the city may go back to having a joint fire/police chief “Public Safety Director.” That was a disaster before and no better an idea now than when Tommy Freeman held the title.   

Domestic incident in Alabama leads to the death of a Summerville man.

Cody Earl Seegar, 29, was stabbed after breaking into a house in Henager to discuss a conflict earlier in the day. The yet-unnamed homeowner stuck Seegar and another man, Anthony Tracy Shaw. Shaw was hospitalized for his injuries.

Family members of the deceased say he broke in to confront the homeowner for allegedly beating a woman earlier in the day.   

A year ago a huge part of LaFayette’s manufacturing past went up in smoke.

The old Barwick mill caught fire during the afternoon of November 14th, 2015, and burned, for day after day, dumping smoke and debris into the air. The plume of smoke could be seen all the way to Summerville and Chickamauga.

What about cleanup?

December 2015: “Officials say cleaning up burned Barwick site in LaFayette will take 6 to 9 months.”

December 2015: Security guards hired to patrol Barwick site

July 2016: “WQCH NEWS TALKED TO EPA SITE COORDINATOR DAVID ANDREWS, WHO SAID WITHIN 30 DAYS, A NEW CONTRACTOR WILL BE ON-SITE AND STARTING THE DEMOLITION PROCESS.”

September 2016: “ANDREWS SAID THERE IS NOW AN APPROXIMATE 3-WEEK PERIOD FOR REVIEW OF THE PLAN, TO BE FOLLOWED BY AN ACTUAL START OF ACTIVITY ON THE SITE IN SEPTEMBER.”

September 2016: Site will be cleaned up “by Christmas.” (But in what year?)

A huge shout out to property owner Drennon Crutchfield of Dalton for all he’s done in the last twelve months to avoid cleaning up that site.   

A week ago, Ridgeland won its first round AAAA football playoff game vs. the St. Pius X Golden Lions of Atlanta, 21-14.

This week their playoff dreams ended with a 38-21 home loss to the Spalding Jaguars.     

What’s worse than causing an accident? Taking off afterwards.

WQCH Radio, 11/11/16: “NO ONE WAS HURT IN A TWO VEHICLE CRASH ON NORTH MAIN STREET [last] WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, BUT ONE DRIVER WAS ARRESTED FOR ‘HIT AND RUN’

“A HUSBAND, WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN WERE NORTHBOUND ON MAIN, WHEN THE OTHER VEHICLE FAILED TO YIELD AT THE INDIANA STREET STOP SIGN AND HIT THEIR SUV.

“THEY TOLD POLICE THE CHEVY CAVALIER CONTINUED ON INDIANA, AND POLICE FOUND THE CAR AND DRIVER MOMENTS LATER. 19 YEAR OLD SHANA NICOLE HENDRIX WAS ASKED WHY SHE LEFT THE SCENE WITHOUT CHECKING ON THE OCCUPANTS OF THE OTHER VEHICLE OR CALLING 9-1-1 TO REPORT BEING INVOLVED IN THE ACCIDENT, AND THE REPORT SAYS SHE HAD NO ‘REASONABLE ANSWER’.

“SHE WAS CHARGED WITH FAILURE TO YIELD AT A STOP SIGN AND LEAVING THE SCENE OF AN ACCIDENT.

Plus: Walker County arrests, November 3-9.     

First fires, now a minor earthquake between Ringgold and Rock Spring around 8:30 Sunday night.

All right, which one of you offended God?

(Whatever you did, see if you can get Him mad enough to send a flood.)   

Cory Lee Woodard is confined to a wheelchair, but doesn’t like to be stuck in one place. He’s turned his world travels into a blog, and a job.

Last weekend Curb Free with Cory Lee was featured on CBS News.

Finally a LaFayette native on world news for doing something positive.   

Little River Canyon in Alabama on Lookout Mountain is bone dry.

Another (temporary) casualty of this wickedly dry year.   

Did you see “Hacksaw Ridge” yet?

An excellent, highly realistic war movie about the World War II experiences of pacifist Desmond Doss. The film is well reviewed.

Doss lived on Lookout Mountain for much of his adult life and played a key role in setting up the county’s cave rescue team in the 1960’s.   

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