The Whitehouse Fire Department has responded to 13 wildland fires caused by illegal burns since October. Last year, it responded to two.
"You don't know how fires are going to spread," said Jason Francis, Fire Chief of the Whitehouse Fire Department. "You think you do, but it's a lot different from field fires and wildland fires than it is for house fires." Francis says farmers are burning their fall leaves and although they don't mean for the fires to get out of control, the fires can.
"If you decide to burn leaves on your property, it's going to get away from you," said Francis. "If you don't think that your property is going to catch on fire, it's going to."
November is one of the 5 burn ban months in Ohio.