Help is on the way for state and local firefighters battling more than 60 blazes, most of them in southeastern Kentucky. Tuesday, Steve Kull, with the state Division of Forestry, said the blazes are in Pike, Harlan, Knox, Owsley and other counties in the region. He said the Kentucky Interagency Coordination Center in the Daniel Boone National Forest got good news from the northwest.
“Oregon has been able to fill six of our ten-person crews that we're looking for. And they are in fact enroute. They may be in place as early as tomorrow. We're pretty sure they'll be in place by Thursday.”
Kull said two more crews are coming from Idaho. He said winds ahead of a storm front may cause problems, but the rain it may bring could help firefighters control and extinguish the blazes. Some of the 60-plus fires have been contained, others extinguished, and some still need work, he said.
“We're going to put place four of those crews out of our Hazard branch office, but of course they cover the counties surrounding all of that and so on, and two the crews are going to go to our Pineville branch office.”
Kull said firefighters in nearby states who could have gotten here faster are busy battling their own blazes.
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