Kentucky is one week into fire season. This means that a burn restriction remains in place until April 30th. The restriction makes it illegal to make a fire within 150 feet of the woods from 6 AM to 6 PM. Chris Scott is the assistant fire management chief for the Kentucky Division of Forestry. He said there are several factors that can raise the risk of an area for forest fires.
“When we’re talking about wildland fire the fuel is the timber leaf litter, the woody debris that’s on the ground. So, there’s other variables as far as topography, you mentioned the wind. If the humidity levels are lowering then that means that fire intensity can increase.”
He said the recent severe weather in the state may have an impact on the risk of fires and the ability to fight them.
“Where we’ve had those storms, whether it be the ice storms or the recent tornadoes, those storms have created more woody debris and downed trees in the forest. So, when we’re trying to suppress wildfires it’s harder for our crews to construct control lines through those areas.”
Scott said fighting a wildland fire is different from battling a structure fire. For forest fires, crews primarily fight the blaze by removing leaves and debris that fuel them to stop the flames from spreading. Scott said eastern Kentucky has a higher risk of wildland fires because it is more heavily forested than the west.
-Editor's note- We had help on this story from WEKU intern Kaitlyn Miracle
