Photos from a wildfire scene in Clay County
FRANKFORT, Ky: Nov. 7, 2016 – The Kentucky Emergency Operations Center continues its Level 3 activation, monitoring and offering support the firefighting efforts of local governments across the state as wildfires continue burning, mostly in southeastern Kentucky.
As of Monday morning, there were 16 active wildfires being managed or monitored. Approximately 11,360 acres have burned through wildfires in the Commonwealth since Oct. 29. Forty seven counties have issued burn bans: Adair, Ballard, Barren, Bath, Bell, Boyd, Breathitt, Butler, Calloway, Carlisle, Carter, Clark, Clay, Cumberland, Edmonson, Fleming, Floyd, Fulton, Graves, Harlan, Harrison, Hart, Hickman, Jackson, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Livingston, Magoffin, Marshall, McCracken, McCreary, Monroe, Montgomery, Nicholas, Owsley, Perry, Pike, Rockcastle, Wayne, Webster, Whitley.
The Little Shepherd Trail (Hwy.1679) in Harlan County continues to be closed to traffic, except for emergency vehicles, from Swap (2927 Highway 1679) to the entrance of the Kingdom Come State Park and will remain so until the wildfire threat has passed.
The Kentucky National Guard is providing 4 helicopters for air assets today in eastern Kentucky. To date, KYNG has dropped 510 buckets of water, containing 306,000 gallons of water. The Civil Air Patrol continues to provide aerial support.
The Kentucky Fire Commission on Monday sent an additional 50 firefighters (five teams of 10 persons each) to relieve the existing five teams in the field that have been fighting the fires since last Friday.
The Counties of Harlan and Letcher, and the city of Fleming-Neon in Letcher County have declared states of emergencies.
The American Red Cross has five shelters on standby in Harlan County at the Harlan Baptist Church, in Bell County at 4 Mile Fire Station, in Knox County at the First Baptist Church in Barbourville, in Pike County at Pike Methodist Church and in Letcher County at Blackey Senior Citizen Center. Since the wildfires, ARC continues to feed the KY Fire Commission and volunteer firefighters who are in the deployment areas.
For additional information and resources, please go to www.kyem.ky.gov , where you can follow KYEM on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
When posting to social media regarding the wildfires, please use #KyWildfires.
Photo of a Black Hawk helicopter battling a wildfire in the Island Creek community of Clay County, Ky is courtesy of Clay County Cruisers President Jack Roberts.
