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We use words to communicate everything from joy to sadness, from warnings to invitations. We often know when they work, but often do not know when they fail.

When it comes to communicating, we should look to reliable sources, but sometimes some folks just can’t resist spreading misinformation. That’s why professional firefighters working in Western North Carolina on the forest fires don’t engage in social media.

“We don’t do TikTok,” one of the forest service managers told a community meeting last Sunday.

Nevertheless, some people can’t resist the temptation to use social media to share information without vetting it while ignoring regular, organized government postings with facts and data.

An example of that occurred a few days ago when a Facebook user in Saluda posted this:

“Hey everyone, just spoke to an officer on Ozone (Drive). Sounds like the fire is feet away from bumping into (Interstate) 26 between mile marker 55 and 57 and when that happens, they will shut down the highway. Tell everyone to get off the roads and avoid 26.”

Tell everyone.

So Facebook users jumped into action, sharing and sharing and sharing the post.

And then, Terri Arrington of Saluda stepped up with her common sense dispenser and posted this:

“…the interstate is not currently threatened. We just drove down (Interstate) 26 to Saluda, and the smoke plumes are visible but still a ways from the actual interstate. Everyone stay alert, and I love how we are all looking out for one another.”

When I communicated with her, I learned that not only was she relaying her own personal experience on the interstate but she had used her personal network to ask Polk County officials if this rumor was true.

“Rumors can go wrong,” she said. (I already liked her.)

“I retired from the state as a public health emergency planner, and I was lucky enough to still have a good friend working the response who helped me confirm (that there was no threat),” she said. “I love helping my community. It was just to help something that could have gotten a little out of hand.”

But one of my friends in the county who shared the erroneous post and later deleted it said she felt at the time that it was a threat others should know about. “I think it’s important to be overly cautious than under. Warning folks who travel the interstate that they may not have a safe route home or to not make unnecessary travel I felt was being helpful, not fanning the flames,” she said.

“I understand your concerns,” she said finally in a slight concession. “Which is why I deleted my posts (comments).”

Nothing I say here will convince a single fervent Facebook poster to vet their information, especially when it concerns a situation as dangerous as the forest fires, before they post it. Maybe our only hope is that we listen more to the Terri Arringtons of the social media world.

Larry McDermott is a local retired farmer/journalist. Reach him at hardscrabblehollow@gmail.com