Misidentifying the Firing of Dark Tobacco as Barn Fires

Yes, thick white smoke is pouring from that barn.

No, that barn is not on fire.

At this time of year, farmers are curing dark tobacco by “firing” it. Throughout farming communities in Tennessee and southern Kentucky, barns are smoking, but they’re not burning.

Every year people unfamiliar with the process “mistake the firing process for a barn fire,” says Timothy Henson, historian for Adams and Cedar Hill.

Already this year, Capt. Robert Clark of the Robertson Co. Rescue Squad and Fire Department has responded to 25 smoke investigation calls involving tobacco barns. Only one of them was actually on fire.

“Most of the calls are made by people riding down the road who are unfamiliar with the firing process,” he says. These people see the smoke billowing out the barns and assume that they are on fire.

“Curing dark tobacco with heat and smoke gives the tobacco it’s distinct aroma and flavor,” says Elvis Bellar, who owns a farm in Adams and has raised tobacco for 25 years.

Dark tobacco is used in the production of snuff, cigars and some chews.

Bellar explains that ” most farmers will use their barns for two separate crops.” This means that each barn typically goes through the 25 day process twice a year.

The tobacco is hung in the barn and left for five to seven days. Then the farmer places wood slabs -“two slabs deep”- on the barn floor, Bellar says.

The slabs are covered with eight to ten inches of saw dust.

The barn is then fired by lighting small fires on the sawdust covered floor.

Typically the barn will be fired four times to complete the firing process. This cycle of firing dark tobacco in intervals to cure it takes about 25 days.

People who are not sure if a barn is on fire or simply part of the curing process “should stop at a local cafe or country store and ask the locals before calling it in,” suggests Bellar.

Clark says most of the false calls are made “by truckers traveling through the area and people not from the area who are not familiar with the process.”

He advises those who suspect a barn of being on fire to go ahead and call it in, stating, “if you don’t know, you don’t know.” Callers should “tell dispatch exactly what you see,” including whether the flames are visible and whether the smoke is white or black.

Black smoke is a definite sign of a structure fire and white smoke is typical of the firing process.

Not all calls are false and tobacco barns occasionally do catch fire.

“All calls must be taken seriously even if they are suspected to be false calls,” says Clark. “It is better to be safe than sorry.”