Additional crews needed for Monroe County fires, Tri-State Mutual Aid a crucial part of response

From Local 3 News: When multiple fires broke out in Monroe County Tuesday, it demonstrated why mutual aid is crucial.

For more than 40 years, the Tri-State Mutual Aid Association has served 125 agencies and 250 fire stations in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. They provide resources and support during emergencies to 11 Tennessee counties, six Georgia counties, two Alabama counties and one county in North Carolina.

Responding crews called for mutual aid when they weren't able to put out the flames on their own and knew they had to call for help.

"We had four wildfires and substantial high winds,” Amy Maxwell with Hamilton County’s Office of Emergency Management says. She said crews were, “trying to contain the fire as quickly as possible knowing we had a really strong storm coming through."

The strong winds only escalated the already-blazing area.

“When heat rises, those embers start to travel and can ignite other areas around you, so that’s when these additional wildfires started,” Maxwell says.

The fires quickly burned through 100 acres, and Maxwell says many rural counties, like Monroe County, don’t have the extra resources and manpower to get large fires out quickly.

“That's where the tri state mutual aid association comes in,” says Maxwell.

Mutual aid also responds when volunteer agencies aren't there during the day, or if these crews are exhausted from fighting overnight.

"If you had a fire during the day, and you live in an area where it's a volunteer agency, it'll more than likely be an automatic aid or additional agencies to respond,” Maxwell says.
Monroe County's Fire Department is one of those.

"A lot of these people even left their jobs–their paid jobs–to go and help provide assistance to get these fires under control,” Maxwell says.

This additional help is especially needed as fires continue to sweep across parts of the Tennessee Valley.

"These wildfires are just so unpredictable, and right now, with the terrain being so dry, we are just so lucky that we are able to provide that assistance to Monroe County and help get these fires contained."