CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) -- Although much of the News 2 viewing area is seeing at least a moderate drought, much of Montgomery County ranks as severe, with some parts even seeing extreme drought. 

On Thursday, City of Clarksville firefighters told News 2 that they responded to a brief grass fire.

For many fires that occur during dry conditions, Assistant Fire Chief and Fire Marshal Mike Reed said the culprit might surprise you.  

“We really see unexpected fires show up a lot of times from discarded smoking material,” Reed said. “Mulch beds and in dry grass beds along highways and around restaurants and buildings where there's decorative landscaping, those are areas right now, especially to be careful with your discarded smoking materials, because in these dry conditions, they smolder and they smolder for a long time a lot of times unnoticed and then become a fire event.” 

In fact, fire officials said that's how one fire started at a Captain D's drive thru several years ago. 

Some may find the drought ironic, considering the historic rainfall the city has seen this year, including some parts several inches underwater at times. 

However, rain or drought, firefighters say they’ll be ready.  

“It does busy up our schedules when the whiplash as you say kind of happens, but we want to ensure our citizens that we are on the constant ready training and anticipating the things that may compromise them and we're ready to serve them at a moment's notice,” Reed said.  

Thankfully, fire officials think many fires have been avoided thanks to their strict open burn policies in the city, something you can find a copy of on the city's website. 

Clarksville Water Treatment Plant officials told News 2 in a statement that they are operating normally to meet the public water consumption demand through current drought conditions: 

Our Clarksville water plant has continued to meet water demands over the hot summer months. At this point, it has not been necessary to employ any part of our Water Conservation Contingency-Drought Management Plan. We continuously monitor weather forecasts and water demand expectations to determine any potential employment of the Plan,” said Mark Riggins, Clarksville Gas & Water General Manager. “Our water operations division managers closely monitor levels of our source water at the Cumberland River and weather conditions throughout the year to ensure we are prepared to take water conservation measures if needed.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/clarksville/clarksville-fire-officials-urge-caution-amid-drought/