Winter is officially done as of the March 19 equinox, but don’t expect an easy spring. A new season has emerged: ‘very high’ fire danger season.
With little snow and a prolonged period between winter thaw and spring rains, the countryside is dry—too dry. With Stanley Fire hoisting the red flag over the weekend, Fire Chief Korey Hagenson shared more on the danger.
“The red flag means no burning very high danger,” Hagenson said. “We are now being very strict with burning. The only burning in the city that is now allowed is for heating to stay warm. That meaning no camp fire at all. We still will not give out permits for burning at all. There is one more level to the danger and that’s extreme. If it gets that high we can ban any kind of burning including wood stoves for heating.”
Having been asked already what the harm in a campfire is, Hagenson said low grass wasn’t the issue.
“I have been asked already ‘what’s it hurting in the city if I have a camp fire? The grass isn’t that tall.,’” he said. “I tell them. ‘It’s not just the grass that burns. It’s the hot ember that landed in the rain gutter of your neighbor’s house where all the dry leaves are. It’s not just the area right around where you are burning, it’s the area that a hot ember can make it to.”
Save a good amount of rain or snow, Hagenson said the department’s UTV and ATV were both hooked up to the truck and ready to go, just in case.
“This season I have been very, very stressed over it,” he said of fire risk. “Right now we still have our UTV and ATV hooked up to the truck ready to go just in case. With the low RH being around 17 to 20 percent that makes fires very likely to happen.”
With things likely to stay in place until the grass turns green pending a good rain, Hagenson said the training burn on West Maple scheduled for March 23 could also be postponed.
“One more thing to add,” he said. “With the fire danger going higher and higher the house burn on West Maple may be postponed until we get some kind of precipitation in our area.”
Bottom line?
Be safe, and think before you burn.
