Firefighters hope to have wildfires burning in the Kisatchie Hills Wilderness Area in Natchitoches Parish contained by the end of the week. A lighting strike on August 3rd sparked the fire that has burned 1,500 acres. Kisatchie National Forest spokesperson Jim Caldwell says they are using various methods to extinguish the blaze, and they can use some help from Mother Nature.
“One thing that would really help is once we get the burnout done, if we have some thunderstorms. That would help a lot,” Caldwell said.
There are 110 people from ten states involved in fighting what is called the Backbone Fire. Caldwell says the Kisatchie National Forest has seen its share of wildfires, but this one is difficult to battle because of the terrain.
“It’s very, very rocky in there. There are buttes, there are mesas and when you’re standing in a place like Longleaf Vista you would swear you’re in the mountains. So it’s very, very different country to fight fire in,” Caldwell explained.
Caldwell says because of the wildfire, the entire Kisatchie Hills Wilderness Area is closed.
“All of the trails in it are closed because we had hikers trying to get in today. They could see the fire trucks, but yet they were putting their backpacks on,” Caldwell said.
Caldwell they are also urging the public to avoid the Longleaf Trail National Scenic Byway because of visibility issues from the smoke. No structures have been damaged and they do not foresee that from happening.
