WOLFE COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) – The U.S. Forest Service is warning people about a spreading wildfire at the Red River Gorge.
The U.S. Forest Service-Daniel Boone National Forest posted on their Facebook page that a wildfire has consumed over 20 acres in the “Wildcat Ridge” area of the Clifty Wilderness in Red River Gorge, an area east of Highway 715 in Wolfe County.
Firefighters spent most of Sunday trying to get the flames under control using “minimum impact suppression techniques.
“We’re going to be monitoring this probably for a while. We’re hoping for some rain tomorrow to come in but we have a hazardous situation with a lot of dead trees and fire has gotten up in those trees,” said Tim Eling, Red River Gorge Manager at the Daniel Boone National Forest.
Eling says they don’t know how the fire started, but in the past, it’s been escaped camp fires.
The area around the fire has been closed for safety reasons, that includes at least two hiking trails.
Officials are asking people to avoid traveling in the Wildcat or Swift Camp Creek portion of the wilderness.
