Kentucky’s fall forest fire hazard season officially begins today. It runs until mid-December and prohibits open burning between 6:00 a.m and 6:00 p.m. within 150 feet of a wooded area.
While many sections of the Commonwealth have experienced substantial rainfall in the last week or so, State Division of Forestry Fire Management Chief Brandon Howard says conditions can dry out quickly, particularly after most all the leaves have fallen. “We can have a stretch of rain and then as few as three days later, there’s no more rain, and with those conditions, that time of year it dries out fairly quick and we’ll start getting fires, even three days after, in early November,” said Howard.
Howard admits it’s hard to predict fire damage this year. But, he says homeowners are held responsible for open burning which gets out of hand. “If the Division of Forestry is required to come out and suppress the fire, they are responsible for suppression costs and we will issue that to them pretty soon after we’re done with the extinguishing of the fire,” noted Howard.
Howard says native grass and pine areas are often the first spots to dry out.
