Despite drought conditions, the fire danger remains moderate across the region

Even though the drought monitor maps show that parts of our area are in extreme or severe drought, the fire danger remains moderate.

We spoke with Andrew Sorenson from the Wisconsin DNR about the conditions.

“We’ve had just enough rain to keep the grasses green enough, and that means the smaller fuels are more damp. And the probability of ignition is a little bit lower and their rate of spread is quite a bit lower than in the spring,” Sorenson said.

When there are fires, the crews are able to get to them quickly, and keep them small. But the bigger fuels, like logs, are drier and take more effort to put out.

Sorenson said there have been 70 fires in the Spooner district since the start of the year, and they have burned a total of 23 acres.

Burning permits are available through the state of Wisconsin.

His advice for burning includes this. “If you do choose to have a fire in and you have the appropriate permits for that, it’s also important that you have the tools to put the fire out. This would be a good source of water, a shovel, a rake, perhaps, and always make sure that your fire is completely out before leaving. It is not entirely uncommon that we will go to a wildfire where the individual stated that they had a legal permitted fire, 1 to 2 weeks beforehand. And those coals actually remained hot because they weren’t completely extinguished.”

For more information about burning permits in WI: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/forestfire/permits