Emergency management urges caution for controlled burns

WASHINGTON — Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator Marissa Reisen has asked farmers holding controlled field burns in the coming months to exercise caution when doing so.

Southeast Iowa’s ongoing drought, coupled with high winds in the forecast, could make for a dangerous combination if land owners aren’t careful. Even with some snow and rain in the forecast, Reisen said long-term patterns were less favorable. She advises people to hold off “if there’s any doubt” about conditions whatsoever.

“In general, when it’s windier than usual, when it’s warm … and when we’ve got low relative humidity, there’s no moisture in the air, so everything burns easier,” she said. “We’ve been in drought conditions for 190 weeks … our soil moisture, especially at the surface level, is really below normal, so because it’s been so dry, what little moisture might have been in those top few inches has evaporated. So it doesn’t take much for that fire to get out of control, even if it’s a day with good conditions.”

Besides a general sense of caution, Reisen encourages farmers to call the county dispatch’s non-emergency number before burning anything, at 319-653-2107.

Doing so helps ensure that firefighters aren’t sent to the far reaches of the county to fires that don’t need to be put out, and prevents diversions away from fields that do need help getting back under control.

“It helps keep us from using our resources at our fire departments when we don’t have to,” Reisen said. “And if they call dispatch on a day when we have a red flag warning, I make sure dispatch knows (to) make sure they know it’s really, really not safe to burn.”

Many area fire departments offer help supervising controlled burns.

“If you have CRP fields to burn give us a call, we can help you burn your property and not let it get out of control,” said the Wellman Volunteer Fire Department on Facebook this week. “Saturday, members of Wellman burned for three land owners.”

Other best practices include checking the National Weather Service for red flag warnings, checking for nearby county burn bans, and calling 911 as soon as control of the fire is in question, rather than waiting to see if it can be contained again.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com