SLADE, Ky. (LEX 18) — Firefighters spent a fifth day of working the Natural Bridge Wildfire. It started late Monday night at Natural Bridge State Resort Park. The lodge is open, but the hiking trails inside the park are closed.
Firefighters had much better conditions for fighting that fire Friday after Thursday's red flag warning.
"We did get some overcast that came in and that kind of helped with the heat and the sun and stuff, where everything holds the moisture and humidity better," said incident commander Kevin Radschweit
Radschweit said the Natural Bridge Wildfire has burned 125 acres and is 65% contained. It's been hard work for those firefighters in tough terrain. They're hoping for rain to help douse the fire, but that rain can also be a challenge.
"With the rain coming in, it's also going to add the extra hazard, because not only do we have the steep slopes, we've got the rock outcrops, with all the foliage that's in there, and all the debris, now we take any moisture on this, it's going to make it even slicker, and the hazards have kind of tripled," Radschweit said.
Firefighters have also been dealing with the dangers of rattlesnakes and copperheads, but thankfully, no bites. Radschweit grew up not far from here and helped build trails at Natural Bridge years ago. He considers this his backyard, so it's tough to see what's happening out here.
"I was born and raised here, 49 years in this area. I can't get over the beauty that this area offers. I hate seeing the fire in this area," he said. "You're going to walk the trails and you're going to have green on this side and you'll have black on this side, where we used trails in order to slow this fire down. Expect something that you've probably never seen before, a lot of the public has never seen it up close, they'll get a firsthand look at what it's going to do,"
It's too soon to say when the hiking trails will reopen and when they do, hikers will notice quite a change. Radschweit said the fire has burned vegetation all around the bridge itself.
"You're going to see more openings, you're going to see the clifflines better, where you usually see full foliage and everything like that. There'll be a significant change from what they're used to seeing," he said.
Investigators are still looking into the cause of the fire.
