The fall wildland fire season gets underway this weekend. It officially runs from October until mid-December. Daniel Boone National Forest Public Affairs Officer Tim Eling said fall finds more fuel on the ground. He said the extended forecast calls for a relatively dry November.
Huge fires in the western United States have garnered much attention. Eling noted Kentucky firefighters have joined in to help out west. “We often get resources from the West that come here to help us, as I mentioned in 2016 and 2019, in particular. So, this was our chance to go out there and help them,” said Eling.
Hidden heat in campfires continues to be a cause of wildland fires across Kentucky. Eling said campers sometimes leave their site in the forest without adequately addressing the previous evening’s campfire. “Cause underneath that top layer of that ash, underneath it’s extremely hot. It’s very hot and then the afternoon, the wind kicks up and that hot ash gets blown out of the fire ring and lands in some leaves and then takes off as a wildfire,” said Eling.
Eling noted 99% of wildland fires in the Commonwealth are caused by humans, either accidental or arson related. The Forest Service official added often fires in the western part of the country are started by lightning strikes.
