Rain and cooler temperatures have allowed fire crews to gain the upper hand on wildfires in Kentucky. For the first time in over a month, there are no active forest fires. Steve Kull is the assistant director of the state Division of Forestry. He says the National Guard played a key role in fire suppression.
National Guard helicopters dropped more than a million gallons of water on the fires. More than 55-thousand acres have burned, mainly in southeastern Kentucky. Most of the blazes were the work of arsonists and led to some arrests. In the end, there were no evacuations or homes destroyed.
While some counties have rescinded total outdoor burning bans, the fall forest fire season doesn’t end until December 15th. Until that time, it remains illegal to burn within 150 feet of woodlands between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
