All it takes is a spark

Fire officials plead with public to resist temptation to burn

Firefighters battled this natural cover fire last week which caused damage and loss to this Valley Hi Drive landscaping business.
Firefighters battled this natural cover fire last week which caused damage and loss to this Valley Hi Drive landscaping business.

 

Although there are no laws in unincorporated Cole County preventing residents from burning trash or yard waste, local fire officials are hoping they will use their common sense and hold off until weather conditions improve.

There has been a rash of grass and brush fires in the county recently. Once again Sunday, area fire districts spent much of the afternoon dealing with more of them.

"A little spark, even a cigarette butt being discarded from a moving vehicle , can set off a fire which could get out of control with strong winds and low humidity," Cole County Fire Protection District Spokesman Steve Cearlock said.

Open burning is allowed in the Jefferson City limits until March 1, but fire officials continue to ask residents to refrain from doing so due to the dry conditions.

"Approximately 70 percent of our calls are to respond to auto accidents and the other 30 percent are for fires," Cearlock said. "Natural cover fires are one of the harder things for us to fight because it can go so far and fast."

The state fire marshal's office noted even sparks from catalytic converters on off-road vehicles or equipment coming in contact with dry grass can start fires in these conditions.

This week's weather forecast doesn't appear it will help resolve the lack of moisture.

Although rain is in the forecast for today, the rest of this week looks dry, according to the National Weather Service in St. Louis. Next week does have several rain chances with temperatures still above normal for this time of the year.

As of late last week, Columbia Regional Airport, the main weather reporting station for Central Missouri, was on pace to set a new record for the least snowiest season defined as Oct. 1-May 31. Columbia has so far received 1.6 inches of snow with the least snowiest season in 2005-06 when just 3.4 inches fell. Of course, March and April remain, and snow has even occurred as late as early May.

With the beginning of spring now one month away, many farmers burn fields to promote new growth and to gain payments for diverting land for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The diverted land must be maintained.

Unless there is significant rain or snowfall, fire officials will advise farmers to do light disking or field cultivating as an alternative to burning.

They also caution a road is not necessarily a safe barrier to a fire. Embers from the fire rise into the air from the heat and the wind carries those embers across roads where they ignite grass on the other side.

Other tips fire officials said residents need to consider if they plan to do open burning:

Make sure winds are not shifting or above 10 miles per hour.

Make sure a safe boundary is established around the area to be burned.

Set a backfire to establish a safe boundary.

Burn against the wind rather than with it. The fire will burn slower and do a better job and not be as likely to get out of hand.