With the start of fall comes the beautiful turning of leaves, and cool gentle breezes, but those leaves fall and become the perfect fuel for forest fires when the breeze dries things out on the ground.
“Right now we’re just watching the precipitation between now and Oct. 15, which is our official start of fire season,” Nathan Waters, assistant district forester for the Department of Agriculture’s Division of Forestry, said. “It’s always a concern, and we have to watch and make sure we’re prepared.”
Waters said residents are required to obtain a burn permit to have an open brush fire. For now, the forestry service is concentrating on getting its equipment ready for whatever may come. And local forestry firefighters have been out west where fires have been raging for months, which provides critical hands-on experience. “We’re upgrading equipment now, but we can’t send everything at once because they’re being refurbished,” he said. “We’re just sorta watching the rain. I do the fire weather every morning I come."