‘Give a durn, don’t burn!’

‘Give a durn, don’t burn!’

Dry , windy conditions put countywide burn ban into effect

news@theeveningtimes.com

Ban the burn. A red flag warning was issued from officials at the National Weather service and a burn ban issued in Crittenden County. Judge Woody Wheeless opted for a countywide Burn ban Friday afternoon but the State Forestry Commission had just closed for the weekend. Officials looked at the factors for prohibiting burning and came to a unanimous conclusion following an urgent fire weather message from the National Weather Service. The West Memphis Fire Department also posted a burn ban beginning early Friday evening for the city.

Among the factors listed that sparked the response were dry air and dry vegetation. The humidity forecast looked for air moisture to drop to 25 percent and gusty winds. Lower than normal rainfall in recent months made for dry ground cover as well. The whole mix added up to elevated levels fire danger for grassy and wild land areas. Citizens are called to ob- serve Red Flag cautions.

Common sense precautions ban for outdoor burning of trash, and properly extinguishing cigarettes as any fire may quickly spread under the current combination of conditions. The red flag warning area includes counties in the three state Mid-south area.

Judge Wheeless confirmed the burn ban announcement Monday morning.

“I’m the one that has to declare a burn ban in the County,” said Wheeless. “I tried to do it Friday afternoon and the Forestry Commission was closed.”

Wheeless considered the dry conditions and shift in the wind bringing a mild cold front to the area for the first feel of fall.

“We haven’t had a measurable rain in a long while,” said Wheeless. “Until we get a good rain are conditions are like they are right now we will keep this burn ban in place.”

There are some limits to the county ban, farmers in the area continued to burn harvested fields over the weekend. The change in temperature and the wind kept the smoke low and created dense ground cloud in some spots.

“Farmers are exempt,” said Wheeless. “Law was passed years ago exempting farmers. The farmers can keep burning their fields off but the general public can’t burn anything at this point.”

People can still cookout according to Wheeless who doubles as the Marion Fire Chief. But burning limbs and trash is out.

“We can’t burn leaves, limbs or trash right now,” said Wheeless. “Of course, people shouldn’t be burning trash anyway, but people do that. People put stuff in barrels and still have embers that come out. Right now there, should be no open burning anywhere.”

By John Rech