Moisture

Moisture

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1987, 9.37 inches.

This lack of precipitation, coupled with the unseasonably warm temperatures in the first half of the month and gusty March winds, has Tippy Jenkins, the county’s chief forest warden, worried. The combination is perfect for the season’s unwanted arrival: brush fires.

“You can’t be too careful this time of year,” Warden Jenkins said, adding that until foliage is full and forests and fields are green with new growth, brush and forest fires are a daily danger.

Spring breezes dry out the brown grass and leaves quickly, Warden Jenkins explained, and even fields which have been burned once have been known to rekindle again within days. And last season’s deadfall on the forest floor is perfect kindling, drying quickly without the summer’s canopy of green leaves above to shield them from the sun’s rays and seasonal winds.

Virginia law, Warden Jenkins continued, restricts burning between March 1 and May 15. Fires may only be lit between 4 p.m. and midnight, when winds are usually calmest, and must be completely extinguished by the midnight deadline. The penalty for violations can be as high as a $500 fine.

“It does not take long for moisture to evaporate when temperatures are high and the days are windy,” Warden Jenkins cautioned, and with these conditions even the most carefully tended fire can quickly get out of hand.

Warden Jenkins said that although a “small percentage” of brush and forest fires are caused by unextinguished cigarettes, campers or natural conditions, most are caused by careless debris burning. “Your biggest majority is from people burning,” he said.

“The best time to bum,” Warden Jenkins suggested, “is when snow is on the ground or when things are green,” explaining that either condition minimizes the risk.

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