Jackson National Guard heading to Chattanooga to fight fires

JACKSON, Tenn — The heat from the East Tennessee fires can be felt in West Tennessee but not in the way you might think.

“We’ve been doing this for a little over a week now.”

Crews from the Tennessee Army National Guard have been deployed to help fight the fires and deliver much needed water from the air.

“We’re going to be going out to the Chattanooga area to support the forestry service and their firefighting efforts in east Tennessee,” crew member First Lieutenant Jeremiah Graupman said.

Monday, crews worked to prepare for what they say will be a long day starting at 5 a.m.

“We’ll take off, it’s about an hour and a half flight from here to Chattanooga. Once we arrive there on the ground we will refuel and we will get our Bambi Bucket and set it up to the helicopter and from there we will begin our firefighting efforts.” Graupman said.

The Bambi Bucket will dump more than 600 gallons of water on the flames.

Graupman said the crews will work as a team

“The crew chiefs in the back of the helicopter are the ones who control the bucket and they are the ones who will initiate the drop,” said Graupman.

Tuesday, two crews of 4, a total of 8, will go up in an aircraft and journey to Chattanooga.”

This is the first fire bucket mission for Graupman.

“I’ve done a lot of training for this but I have not done the actual mission so this is kind of an exciting time to know that I’m participating in something as important as this mission.”