SLADE, Ky. (LEX 18) — Crews continue battling a fire that began late Monday in Natural Bridge State Park.
With heat and wind intensifying, officials anticipate the fire will grow.
“To give us a better chance of success, we’ve widened our control lines a little bit,” said Mike McMillan, public information officer with the US Forest Service. “Tomorrow acreage will increase and that’s a planned event, but that gives us a much better chance of controlling fire at the control lines.”
The fire has forced trailheads and parking lots to close. Despite the disruption, some visitors to the area are bound to make the most of their time.
“I flew all the way up from California for this, so I'm not gonna let it deter me,” said Shirley Martin.
She and 16 others are members of a national outdoors club called Sisters on the Fly.
“We planned this six months ago and we discovered yesterday….WOW, we got a little more excitement than we expected with the fire,” said Diane Corey.
So far, the fire has consumed 100 acres, forcing the women to rework their plan.
“When you put together a group of women that just wanna get together and chit chat and do whatever, it’s okay, we don’t need an agenda,” said Andrea Brooks-King.
Crews from Puerto Rico to Oregon are working to put out the fire, but heat, wind, and tricky terrain aren’t making it easy.
Officials have called in a type 1 helicopter to drop water onto the fire 600 gallons at a time.
While the Natural Bridge State Park is closed, Red River Gorge remains open.
For more information on the park, please see updates at: parks.ky.gov/ and on Natural Bridge State Resort Park’s Facebook page: facebook.com/nbsrp.
