Fire Season

Spring came early this year and here in Michigan it has brought with it tinder dry conditions. There has been no rain to speak of for the last month and we have been blessed with above normal temperatures. The result has been very high fire danger postings for the State, most areas are not issuing fire permits, and people are getting out and doing yard work.

Yard work that unfortunately often leads to burning brush and trash, and that can and does lead to grass fires. It only takes a spark with the wind behind it and someone’s field or house is burning.

In a normal year there would still be patches of snow around and things would be wet from spring rains, but this is not a normal year and it won’t take much to start a bad fire. Until things green up we need to be as careful as possible. A camp fire, a cigarette tossed out the car window, burning that pile of grass and leaves you raked up in the yard, any of these things can and do lead to out of control fires that burn hundreds of acres every year.

So please be careful out there and as Smoky says “only you can prevent forest fires.”