Firefighters fight dry conditions, high winds while tackling woodland fire
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette
Monday, April 4, 2011, 12:33 a.m. — Four fire departments and the Kentucky Division of Forestry spent nearly eight hours Sunday fighting a fire that covered a thickly wooded area of knobs in Western Nelson County between Lutheran Church Road off KY 245 and and Barnes Road area north of the Nelson County Landfill.
Nelson County Dispatch received several calls about heavy smoke in the area of the end of Lutheran Church Road south of KY 245. The Bardstown Fire Department was dispatched to the area. Minutes later, calls from property owners off Barnes and Wheeler roads reported heavy smoke in those areas. Firefighers were also sent to those areas to determine the fire’s location and how to access it.
A little after 4 p.m., the fire deparment’s incident commander asked dispatchers to advise the Kentucky Division of Forestry of an apparent fire in the heavily wooded knob region, and ask what resources would be available if needed. At 4:13 p.m., a property owner on Wheeler Road reported spotting the fire on a wooded trail up the knob behind their house. Firefighters were unable to access the front of the fire, and had to work from the rear of the fire, which was being pushed generally northward by heavy winds with gusts topping 45 mph.
Manpower and equipment — including a bulldozer — from the Division of Forestry arrived about 5:30 p.m. and was sent to work on creating a fire line. The call for additional manpower was answered by the Boston, Southeast Bullitt and Mount Washington Fire Departments.
Homeowners on Lutheran Church Road spotted flames up on the top of the knobs about 5:30 p.m. Property owners on both sides of the fire offered firefighters use of tractors, ATVs and other equipment to assist them in accessing the fire. Firefighters, assisted by the Division of Forestry equipment, successfully contained the fire late Sunday evening. The Bardstown Fire Department crews left the fire scene about about 12:30 Monday morning. Dispatchers were advised that some brush will continue to burn and smolder, creating smoke in the area.
Nelson County had been under a Red Flag Warning issued by the National Weather Service. A Red Flag Warning indicates the conditions are extremely favorable for fires to start and spread very rapidly. Low humidity levels and sustained and gusty winds were factors that led the weather service to issue the warning.
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