justnorth posted on April 23, 2007 05:24 :: 1533 Views
Fire activity throughout the state has been brisk for the past week. There were multiple dispatches Friday for aircraft. The DNR flew helicopters and made water drops from Bemidji, Princeton and Cloquet. A Single Engine Air Tanker (SEAT) flew from Bemidji doing additional suppression work.
Along with fire activity has come a rash of civilian injuries ranging from smoke inhalation to heart attack. Debris fires will produce toxic smoke and chemicals from a variety of materials which can cause permanent injury or even death. "Most wildfires this time of year are human caused," reminds, Ron Stoffel, Wildland Fire Suppression Supervisor at the Interagency Fire Center, "and occur when people try to fight fires they lost control of. Most people don't have fire resistant clothing (personal protective equipment, PPE) or proper tools to fight fire aggressively. If a fire gets out of control, it's best to step back and call for help."
In spite of thunderstorms over night that produced rain in parts of MN, grass and other light fuels will dry quickly and remain a significant threat until things "green up", usually not until the end of May or early June. The fire danger in Central and Southern MN will remain in moderate to high conditions; they had little or no rain over night. Southern MN can expect increased fire danger as winds and temps increase and no rain has been received.
The DNR wants to remind citizens that burning restrictions are in effect for all counties from northern Minnesota south to Ramsey, Hennepin and Washington counties. For additional information please refer to the burning restrictions map at: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/fire/index.html.
Article Source:
http://justnorth.com/Articles/tabid/105/articleType/AuthorView/authorID/12/justnorth.aspx