Field fires prompt burn ban
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More than 100 acres burned in 10 field and brush fires during the past two weeks have created a no-burn situation in Franklin County.
County Fire Chief Chuck Stines said Monday that a lack of rain has created extremely dry conditions that allow fires to quickly start and spread.
He said that Franklin County has been under a no-burn advisory, but he has been working with state officials to get a full-on burn ban.
Stines said it would take at least an inch of rain to reach a state where it would be safe for residents to start fires, and the weather forecast has nothing in it for at least the next week that would meet that condition.
“The only thing that would change it is a sizeable amount of rain,” he said, then referring to a burn ban. “We’re not trying to be hardnosed, but we’re going to have a major problem if we don’t take preventative action now.”
Stines is advising residents to simply not start any fires.
“We’re asking people to plan to not burn at all — no kind of open field burning, burn pits, or anything like that — no burning at all,” he said.
Although the area has been plagued with high fire potential, Stines said Franklin County is extremely fortunate because no one has been injured and no buildings have burned in the recent fires.
“We’ve been very lucky so far,” he said, referring to the fires not extending to any buildings.
He stressed that residents need to follow the no-burning directive to ensure conditions remain safe.
