Fire and forest officials in Lincoln County are investigating a suspicious fire that torched several acres of a family’s land. It happened on South Fork Lake Road in Hustonville Friday afternoon.
By Friday night, a blanket of black soot covered the once vibrant forest bed.
“I believe that it was arson,” said Forest Ranger Glenn Smith. He added, “It had to be that somebody just set the woods on fire.”
But, who’s to blame? Casey Hamilton and her family want to know. “We got up here and I was like oh my gosh, that’s my land that’s on fire,” said Hamilton.
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The fire burned nearly five acres of her family’s property. It would have been worse, had two hunters not driven by. “We looked up the road and the land was on fire,” said Les Owens.
He and his friend called 911 for help, then tried to fight the flames themselves. “It was just low flames, mainly smoke, we tried to get to the top to keep it from getting up to the top,” said Owens.
About 20 minutes later both the Forestry and Fire Departments came to the rescue. Around two hours later, the fire was under control.
“If it had been different conditions it could have traveled a whole lot further and a whole lot faster,” said Smith.
Besides the fast efforts of emergency crews, the wet weather was the saving grace. It is also a reason Forestry officials are confident this was no accident. “There’s no way that anything else with this high humidity could cause a fire, other than a lighter or some type of flame,” said Smith.
It is a sad reality for people who live and hunt in the woods. Now everyone is counting their blessings because no one was hurt. “It could have been a serious situation, somebody losing their house or even dying, just fire is a dangerous thing,” said Owens.
Forestry officials said they have few leads in the case. As of Friday night it was not clear how much the damage would cost.
