Dry first three weeks of Kentucky’s forest fire season set the stage for wildfires
Republished from WEKU.
Fall forest fire season in Kentucky officially began October 1st and the U.S. Forest Service is reminding folks of the dangers of wildfires. Tim Eling is the public affairs staff officer for the Daniel Boone National Forest, which encompasses 709-thousand acres across 21 eastern Kentucky counties. He said the remnants of Hurricane Helene brought plenty of rain in late September, but there’s been very little since.
“So the forest is drying out. You tend to have cooler temperatures, lower relative humidity, and of course, you have the leaves starting to fall off the trees. So you combine all that together, and you tend to have conditions that can be favorable for wildfires.”
Eling said there were three forest fires over the weekend in the southern part of the Daniel Boone National Forest, all of which were contained. He said 98 percent of forest fires in Kentucky are caused by humans and offers this advice for putting out campfires:
“You pour a little water on it, you stir it up. Just find a stick on the ground. You pour a little more water on it, you stir it up again, and then just kind of tap it with the back of your hand and make sure not only that the flames are gone, but that the hot ash has cooled.”
Eling said many wildfires begin when people think they’ve put a campfire out and leave the area, then winds pick up and blow hot ashes out of the ground.
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Originally published by WEKU.
Republished with permission.
