Firefighters stretched more than 600 feet of hose uphill to extinguish flames

Firefighters stretched more than 600 feet of hose uphill to extinguish flames that spread from a Goss Hollow Road property owner burning brush on Tuesday. Fire Chief Brad Reed was returning to the department late in the morning and saw smoke rising from the Goss Hollow area. After establishing that no one had established a burn permit with the department, he went to investigate. He found property owner J.P. Hale, of Morgan, trying to put out a fire that had gotten away from him. Hale said he had started early in the morning burning a pile of brush. He said the wind was down at the time, and he believed he was burning in a damp spot on his property. Instead, the flames spread to dry land and kept spreading. Chief Reed called firefighters to the scene. Firefighters had to carry hose several hundred feet uphill. Fire extinguishing efforts kept the fire from spreading into nearby woods, confining the flames to a swath of open land about 100 yards long.