VIDEO: The rain is giving rural fire departments, especially volunteer firefighters, a break.
“We were stretched pretty thin during that,” said Captain Zack O’Daniel.
He works for Southwest Fire Protection District, an all-volunteer fire department.
”Rain has helped us a lot. It’s really taken our call load down for brush fires,” said Captain O’Daniel.
It’s the same story in a nearby district. Mid-County Fire Protection District Chief Scott Frandsen says brush fires are hard on not only firefighters but equipment too.
“In March, we ran over 40 brush fires, and several of those were fairly substantial fires, multi-100 acre fires. Obviously, we’ve got several weeks of rain now on and off. And like in April, we don’t want to respond to eight or nine. So we have seen a pretty significant decrease in our brushfires,” said Chief Frandsen.
They hope the spring showers keep the drought away.