Police say a 61-year-old woman is responsible for setting forest fires that threatened homes today in the Watts Creek area of Harlan County.

Rosetta Stanton is now facing arson and wanton endangerment charges. Rangers with the Division of Forestry say earlier today the flames were as high as 25 feet, covering approximately 50 acres. The fires were burning near several homes in the Watts Creek area, and for some, it was an alarming wake-up call.

"the smell of smoke woke me up, and I looked out of the house, and there was a lot of smoke on our property," says Scott Farmer, who lives near where the fires started. He says the flames were just a few feet from his home.

Crews say they have no doubt the fires were intentionally set. Forester Jared Calvert, with the Southeastern District of the Division of Forestry, says, "This is an arson case, and you can definitely see down the side of the roads where it was set multiple times on each side of the road."

Police say they arrested 61-year-old Rosetta Stanton while she was still setting the fires. Farmer says he went out on his four-wheeler to try and help put out the flames.

"But the winds just picked up and it really just took off," he says, "There wasn't much anything you could do."

Officials say no homes were damaged by the flames, and some changing weather conditions are helping firefighters.

Calvert says, "The conditions are a little better. The humidity is up. So, it's allowing our fire fighters to do direct attack on the fire, so that we're actually getting containment on the fire tonight."

Police say Stanton remains behind bars at the Harlan County Detention Center. Forestry officials say half of the fires they fight are caused by arson.