Around 100 firefighters from several states and Puerto Rico are battling the week-old fire at Natural Bridge State Resort Park. It’s a joint effort between the U.S. Forest Service and Kentucky Division of Forestry. Mike McMillan is a U.S. Forest Service Public Information Officer from Idaho.
“It's going pretty well. But we have some very warm temperatures developing today. And so that could challenge our firefighters as they continue to build control lines.”
McMillan said the biggest challenge is the steep terrain, but the remote location poses problems, too.
"The only way we can get water up there is with helicopters. So we have a Type One that's the largest type of helicopter and it drops about 600 gallons per bucket. And that's filling up at Middle Fork Lake and very quick turnaround times.”
Firefighters have been using the skylift to get to the fire in the upper regions. McMillan said he’s been fighting fires for 35 years – and never used a sky lift to do so until this week. Natural Bridge’s sky lift, and all trails, remain closed to the public.
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