FRANKFORT — A flotilla of military helicopters and 120 ground troops from the Kentucky National Guard headed for fire-ravaged eastern Kentucky Friday to battle several stubborn forest fires that have already claimed about 18,000 acres.

        Army National Guard Lt. Col. Phil Miller said Friday that three units of 40 soldiers were dispatched to state forest district headquarters in Prestonsburg, Hazard and Harlan.

        “These are either engineer or infantry units, generally from the same area as the fires,” he said. “Those are the ground teams. We have also sent aircraft to each of those locations ... two UH60 Blackhawks that can carry 660 gallons of water, as well as some scout helicopters that locate hot spots and notify the larger (helicopters) that then make the water drops.”

        The National Guard troops are working with firefighting teams from Kentucky and surrounding states, including some from Western states that are now fire-free. No Northern Kentucky Guard units were involved.

        “We have refresher training in firefighting every year for the team lead ers,” Lt. Col. Miller said. “There is a team leader working with each (National Guard) unit.”

        The Blackhawk helicopters were fitted Friday

        with special water tanks, known as “Bambi buckets,” that can carry 660 gallons of water.

        At least four homes have been destroyed by fires in Kentucky that sent plumes of thick smoke drifting as far north as Cincinnati, 150 miles away.

        Visibility was so bad in some areas that two Kentucky school districts canceled classes, drivers were asked to turn on their headlights and people with breathing problems were warned to stay indoors.

        Fixed-wing aircraft, known as air tankers, were expected to join the battle today. Firefighting crews used bulldozers, leaf rakes and blowers to clear away the dry leaves feeding the flames.

        No significant rain has fallen in the southern Appalachian area for more than a month, transforming the once-beautiful fall foliage into tinder. Nearly all the blazes have been blamed on careless campers or arsonists.

        Kentucky, with nearly 18,000 acres burned this week, and Tennessee, with about 15,000 acres, were the hardest hit, followed by North Carolina and Virginia. Smaller fires also burned in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.

        Fire officials said at least 80 percent of the fires burning along Tennessee's Cumberland plateau were intentionally set. In some cases, firefighters even witnessed arsonists setting more blazes.

        A state of emergency was declared in two western Virginia counties after brush fires consumed nearly 8,000 acres of the Shenandoah National Park. Another fire burning along the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains had consumed about 4,000 acres.

        “You've got these leaves that are a wonderful attraction to people and are things of beauty, and in a couple weeks they can become dry and a potential threat to life and property,” said Shenandoah park ranger Lee Taylor.

        The Associated Press contributed.
       

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