Eau Claire (WQOW) - Dry weather conditions combined with high humidity have forced Eau Claire fire officials to call for burning restrictions in Eau Claire County.
"We didn't have a lot of significant snowfall over the winter," points out Township Fire Department Chief of Rescue Services Joe Alf. "The vegetation is quite dry yet and if we do get a fire in those areas, it's going to have the ability to get real large real fast."
On Monday, the DNR raised Eau Claire County's fire danger levels up from high to very high.
"It's based on how many days it's been since we've had rain, what the current weather conditions are as far as winds and relative humidities," explains DNR Forestry Team Leader Steve Edge.
"Burning permits have been discontinued and will be discontinued until we get a significant amount of rain," Alf says.
"Once we get a little moisture again around here to dampen things down, we will ease those restrictions up again and allow evening burning," Edge says.
"Burning in a barrel, burning a campfire is still allowed," Alf points out.
Because of the dry conditions, both the Township Fire Department and the DNR agree it's going to take more than just one rain for these fire concerns to go away.
"It will have to be more than just a tenth of an inch or something because a small amount will quickly evaporate and we will be right back where we are right now," Edge says.
The DNR says if we don't get enough rain in the next week or so they could issue a burning ban to replace those burning restrictions. And that would call for no burning of any kind here in Eau Claire County.
Just to give you an idea of how dry it is outside, there have been five fires in the Barron County area since last Wednesday, which burned more than seven acres of land. Authorities say the fires were caused by burning debris and improperly disposing of hot ashes.
