The Kentucky Division of Forestry could call upon some canine assistance in fighting wildfires. The great majority of these wild land fires each year are deliberately set.
Division of Forestry Spokeswoman Jennifer Turner says some states are turning to dogs to track down arsonists.
“They’re training to track it back to where it starts. If somebody is on foot they’ve had a really good success rate. If somebody is on an ATV, you know four wheeler of some sort, they’ve had a very good success rate in other states,” said Turner.
Out of 948 wildfires in 2013, more than two thirds were arson related. Still, the overall number of wild land fires across Kentucky is down significantly this year.
“Halloween usually is a high fire day and it rained that whole Halloween weekend. Fourth of July we have a lot of grass fires and it was rainy. We had a really wet spring,” explained Turner.
Out of 948 wildfires in 2013, more than two thirds were arson related.