Dry ground concern for firefighters
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, September 4, 2002
Local firefighters are keeping one eye on the weather forecast and the other on area woodlands.
The prolonged high
temperatures and less-than-normal rainfall the past couple of months has caused several small brush fires recently. Firefighters fear if the trends continue, the upcoming forest fire season could be a rather busy one.
"The weeds are so dry, if we don't get rain we're going to be in a terrible situation," Windsor Township Fire Chief Don Christian said. "The underbrush is dry right now, it can be really volatile."
Christian said there were four brush fires in the county Monday alone. A couple of recent brush fires in Mason Township consumed 10 acres each.
National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Campbell said in spite of the downpours and the flooding that occurred in the early part of the year, the last couple of months have been drier than usual and have been coupled with bouts of high temperatures.
"We haven't broken any records this year, but we have had 14 days of temperatures at or above 90 degrees," Campbell said. "This is not good news for firefighters."
Campbell said in August, rainfall totaled 1.98 inches. That's about half of what is normal for the month. In July, precipitation totaled 3.15 inches. That was more than an inch below normal.
The immediate forecast does not include significant rainfall. Teresa Moore/The Ironton Tribune