Dollywood converts to oil

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2026 12:42 pm

Bobharbison wrote:

It was kind of like how we see fires along the freeway from carelessly tossed cigarettes, people just said "that happens sometimes" and accepted it.

I'm not sure where you are these days, but here in Arizona we sure as #*&^!@ don't "accept" it, at least not any more. There are constant reminders on highway message signs during the hot/dry season to "USE ASHTRAYS" and "TIE UP CHAINS" (dragging chains from trucks/trailer hitches have been deemed a major source of wildfire-producing sparks) and "DON'T EVEN THINK OF LIGHTING UP."

Quote:

Another factor is that out west, cinders and small fires along the right away were common. So much so that I have to wonder if the smaller fires kept the brush from accumulating large debris piles that would cause larger and more destructive fires.

It's no longer any "wonder." Fire-fighting and forestry management have come to acknowledge that decades of stamping out any minor blaze in the days of Smokey the Bear backfired in the long run, allowing major accumulations of shrub and brush to accumulate.
Modern forest management includes strategically harvesting and piling deadfall to burn in "prescribed/controlled burns", as well as allowing the lightning-sparked major fires in Yellowstone National Park years ago to burn naturally. The firefighters that spend summers battling wildfires gain year-round employment managing the brush piles and planning controlled burns.

And any "aware" railfans and maintenance of way crews that now have to put up with the "tunnels" of thick vegetation that trains now run through in the Northeast and South (often invasive species of junk trees such as the "tree of heaven") would probably welcome fire-starting trains in 2026.........