It’s been more than a month since it last rained in Marion County, and there has been an extreme rise in grass fires throughout the area. A burn ban has been established in the county, along with the entire southern half of the state. The burn ban prohibits any outdoor burning, even grilling, and you could be ticketed for any violation of the ban.
There were 42 fires reported in the county in a 14-day span, including 29 from Aug. 14 through Aug. 20 alone.
“It’s too dry to be burning,” Emergency Management Director Aaron Greer said. “Our fire departments have been running ragged the past few weeks. Forestry is really stretched thin right now, too.”
The Foxworth Volunteer Fire Department has been the busiest fire department during this time with multiple large fires and several every day.
“We’ve had one every day of the week,” Fire Chief Mickey Graham said. “The one we worked on Sunday was six acres of woods and fields. We worked an acre and a half before that, and it’s just been nonstop.”
Graham said he’s never seen it this bad, at least not in the Foxworth area.
Columbia Fire Chief Lyle Berard said every few years or so, a drought leads to an increase in grass fires like Marion County is experiencing now. Within city limits, Berard said the CFD has been pretty fortunate to not see too large of an increase in call volume, but it has been assisting county fire departments when it has been able to.
“As far as going this long without rain, I can’t remember the last time I’ve had to deal with this,” Berard said.
Tri-Community Fire Chief Cole Robbins said the department has been very blessed that the residents in the area have, for the most part, complied with the burn ban. He said they have had a few fires but not as much as in other areas.
“We’ve had a few (fires) with unknown causes, possibly cigarettes or something (else),” he said. “There was one where something had been burnt about a week before the burn ban went into effect and was dry, but without humidity, it rekindled and started a small fire. We also had one that was started by a tree falling on a power line.”
Berard said accidentally starting a serious fire during this drought could be as simple as cutting the grass or bush hogging and hitting something that creates some type of spark.
“That’s just how dry everything is right now and how easy it is to accidentally start a fire,” he said.
Berard suggested that with anything you do, whether it’s as innocuous as mowing the grass or anything that has even the slightest possibility of creating a spark, make sure you’re aware of where your closest water source is.
Graham’s message was direct to the point, and he said all of the fires they have responded to could have been prevented by not starting a fire.
“Use common sense and don’t burn while it’s dry,” he said.
Robbins echoed Graham’s sentiment and added that there are a number of factors that could turn a small fire into a full blaze in no time.
“Follow good common sense and the law. It shouldn’t take a burn ban to tell you not to burn with the conditions the way they are right now,” Robbins said. “I wouldn’t set something on fire right now even if I were going to stand right beside it with a water hose. There’s just too many risks with wind, low humidity level and how dry everything is.”
On top of the obvious reasons why potentially starting a fire during a drought is not wise, Robbins asks those who live outside city limits to consider the lives of the firefighters who are volunteers.
“People have to leave work or their families to go put out fires,” he said. “Some of the districts like Foxworth that have been to so many (fires), you know those guys have got to be worn out. Their employers, with the unusual amount of times having to leave work to fight fires, have to be kept in mind as well. Thankfully my employer allows me to leave for fires, but if I had to spend several days at a time away from work, they might start putting pressure on me to not respond. People that are serving are volunteers. Have a little bit of compassion on us.”
A press release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture states, “The National Forests in Mississippi is advising visitors that national forest administered lands in the central and southern portions of the state are under the burn ban issued by Governor Tate Reeves on Friday, August 18, 2023. This includes the Bienville, Chickasawhay, Delta, De Soto and Homochitto Ranger Districts.
During a burn ban, anything with an open flame that produces an ember is not allowed. In its proclamation, the State of Mississippi noted lack of rainfall and ‘extreme drought conditions, resulting in dry vegetation and an increased occurrence of wildfires.’
The partial burn ban includes the counties of Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Clarke, Copiah, Covington, Forrest, Franklin, George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Issaquena, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lincoln, Madison, Marion, Newton, Pearl River, Perry, Pike, Rankin, Scott, Sharkey, Simpson, Smith, Stone, Walthall, Warren, Wayne, Wilkinson and Yazoo.
