Rashing photos on Flickr

Pemberton Fire would lilke to remind everyone that if you set fire to the woods they will probably burn....especially right now - it's drier than it seems. They've been called out four or five times in the last couple of days...and are getting tired of it.

Extreme Drought Conditions Allow Multiple Grass Fires by Cullman Today

Across Cullman County

Spring-like high temperatures in January coupled with extreme drought conditions have conspired to allow a rash of grass and wood fires across Cullman County this weekend.

Firefighters from multiple county volunteer and city fire departments have been active in responding to at least a dozen small-to-medium grass, brush, and woodlands fires since Friday morning.

JUST A FEW EXAMPLES

• A large area of grassland burned just west of the City of Hanceville along County Road 555 on Saturday with a land area of approximately 12 acres. Hanceville and Johnson’s Crossing Fire & Rescue worked that blaze.

• Logan Fire & Rescue firefighters worked two smaller 2 acres fires: one Saturday along County Road 368 and another on Sunday in the Bethsadia fire coverage area on County Road 401 which briefly endangered a structure.

• Cullman Fire Rescue participated in a mutual aid response with the Gold Ridge Fire Department on County Road 1428 Friday.

EXTREME DROUGHT CONDITIONS ARE CONTRIBUTING

Many of these fires appear to have been caused by landowners/tenants who took advantage of ideal weather conditions to burn brush and trash piles. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, those ‘controlled’ burns got away and thereby required fire department responses.

The now infamous, statewide ‘NO Burn Order’ instituted by Governor Bentley in 2016 has been canceled.

As result, county residents are once again engaging in regular ‘controlled’ burns. What these county residents may not realize is that Cullman County is still in the midst of moderate to extreme drought conditions as defined by the United State Drought Monitor service.

The natural winter drying process coupled with near zero temperatures last week has made above ground vegetation extraordinarily flammable. As result, grass and brush fires such as those experienced this weekend become increasingly more likely to occur.

As long as the ongoing drought continues, the risk of unattended and/or poorly attended citizen-created fires getting out of control and spreading to larger land areas is considered high by Cullman fire departments.

According to emergency responder Maurice Reynolds of Logan Fire & Rescue:

“Things are deceiving. In many areas, the actual soil is retaining moisture. It is borderline muddy in places. However, the grass, shrubs, brush, and trees are BONE dry. So, when you start a fire, you’ll think it is safe due to the wet dirt under your feet. However, you may not realize that all the vegetation around you is poised to catch fire and spread quickly like old newspapers.

If people are going to do controlled burns – whether trash, trees or brush – they need to stay on top of their fire. Personally, I’d like to see the Governor re-institute the ‘No Burn Order’ for Cullman and other counties in the center of this on-going drought.”

For the full story, please see: cullmantoday.com/2017/01/15/extreme-drought-conditions-al...

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