By Ivory Riner

Staff Writer

After 16 years with the Tennessee Division of Forestry in Marshall County, Richard "Bull" Williams has gone to fight a big fire out west.

Williams was sent to northern Oregon to fight the wild fires on Aug. 2 and won't return for another two or three weeks. The Cornersville High School graduate was a volunteer firefighter for South Marshall and Five Points. He is currently a Forestry Aid II with the Division of Forestry and drives a bulldozer in Marshall and surrounding counties.

Williams has fought other wildfires in the west as well as here in the southeast, but this is the first big fire out west he has been to since he and Eva were married nine years ago.

Williams sent Eva a text message saying he was OK and he was dealing with a fire at Murderers Creek Guard Station near John Day City, Ore.

"He is sleeping outside in tents with little phone reception, so it's hard to talk to him," said Eva. Williams is serving on a smoke jumper team, but isn't jumping from the plane, she said.

The Murderers Creek South and Buck Creek fires have covered 62,476 acres to date, according to a post on the PhysOrg website Monday, Aug. 11. There are 798 personnel fighting this fire complex, and the fire is estimated to be 30 percent contained.