The cooler fall weather is perfect for getting out into the forest, but all the things that make it so attractive can also make it a bit more dangerous.
"The days are usually getting drier. The leaves start falling to the ground. That's very dry, crunchy leaves, and typically, you have lower humidity in the air. This is when, historically, we tend to have more fires," said Tim Eling of the U.S. Forest Service.
Eling said humans are overwhelmingly to blame when something does ignite.
"In Kentucky, over 98% of wildland fires are human-caused," he said.
The state says arsonists start half of wildfires. The next leading cause is escaped debris fires. In the Red River Gorge area, the main cause is campfires that aren't fully extinguished.
"In the Red River Gorge area, that's the number-one cause of wildfires, is people leaving a campsite without making sure that that hotbed of ash was completely out," Eling said. "Before you leave your campsite, put a little water on the ash, stir it up with a stick, pour a little water on it, and just feel it gently with the back of your hand, and make sure it's cool and not really hot ash that might get away,"
Eling says those extra steps to keep things safe will be especially important this season as the state heads into fire season a little on the dry side.
"September was below-average rainfall, so we're heading into the fire season already kind of dry, and we really haven't had any rain much in October. It seems like we're kind of setting up in a dry pattern at the moment," he said.
