Crews are battling 39 active fires across Kentucky. 26 counties are dealing with fires with about 34-hundred acres burned. The Kentucky Division of Forestry is taking the lead in addressing the fires and they are being joined by the U.S. Division of Forestry and local fire crews.
Bridget Abernathy is the assistant director for the Kentucky Division of Forestry. In an interview with WEKU, she said the conditions on the ground and in the air are not helping.
“Being in a drought, we have warmer temperatures, lower, relative humidity, as well as wind. Until we can get some substantial rain then we will continue to deal with our fire situation, whether that be individual fires or additional fires that will be popping up.”
She said they have a lot of organizations coming to help.
“The Kentucky Division of Forestry is the lead agency who is helping to address the suppression of these fires, but we also have many other partners, the U.S. Forest Service is helping as well as local fire departments and other partners.”
Abernathy said crews from other states have been coming in to help as well. Officials with the Estill County Emergency Management Agency said they have started back burning around the remaining fire there to help with containment so residents can expect to see more smoke.
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