Kentucky Division of Forestry Continues to Lead Firefighting Efforts

FRANKFORT, Ky: (Nov. 9, 2016) – The Kentucky Division of Forestry (KDF) continues to lead the efforts against 26 active wild fires burning in the Commonwealth, including two new fires reported in Floyd and Pike Counties. KDF currently has deployed 355 personnel to assist with firefighting activities.

Yesterday afternoon, FEMA awarded Kentucky a Federal Fire Management Assistance Grant, which can provide funding for eligible costs associated with woodland firefighting including: equipment, supplies, labor, mobilization and demobilization, prepositioning of equipment and personnel.

To date, there have been 181 fires, with approximately 29,455 acres burned through wildfires in the Commonwealth since Oct. 29. Sixty-four counties have issued burn bans, including Adair, Ballard, Barren, Bath, Bell, Boyd, Breathitt, Bourbon, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Carter, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Edmonson, Elliott, Estill, Fleming, Floyd, Franklin, Fulton, Graves, Green, Harlan, Harrison, Hart, Hickman, Hopkins, Jackson, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Livingston, Magoffin, Marshall, Martin, McCracken, McCreary, Marion, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Nicholas, Owsley, Perry, Pike, Powell, Rockcastle, Rowan, Trigg, Warren, Wayne, Webster, Whitley and Wolfe. County burn bans can be found on the KDF Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Kentucky-Division-of-Forestry-261039753930985/?fref=ts .

The Kentucky Emergency Operations Center remains activated and is coordinating the response efforts of several agencies, organizations and private sector partners: Kentucky Emergency Management (KYEM), Kentucky Division of Forestry (KDF), Kentucky Department for Natural Resources (DHR), Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection (DEP), Kentucky National Guard (KYNG), Kentucky Fire Commission (KYFC), American Red Cross (ARC) and LG&E Kentucky Utilities.

As smoke from the wildfires continues drift over some areas, DEP’s Response Team has conducted air quality tests in 27 impacted locations, which led to the Kentucky Department of Health issuing a Smoke Inhalation Advisory late last night. A map has been made available for current testing locations and results, www.tinyurl/kyemairquality. Test results all were good today with the exception of Harlan County where one resulted as moderate and one unhealthy. Air quality monitoring will resume tomorrow. Earlier the Kentucky Department of Public Health issued a Smoke Inhalation Advisory and provided smoke inhalation safety tips on their website at http://healthalerts.ky.gov/Pages/AlertItem.aspx?alertID=42683 .

The Kentucky National Guard (KYNG) provided eight helicopters for air assets in eastern Kentucky today. The Civil Air Patrol continues to provide aerial support, as well.

The American Red Cross has five shelters on standby if needed.

KYEM officials urge citizens to abide by the burn bans and be extremely cautious in all outdoor activities.

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.

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