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Extremely dry conditions call for
added caution, common sense
Hopefully, everyone has realized the danger
posed by wildfires. Shenandoah National Park
had problems recently when a controlled fire got out of control, and over the weekend, a fire raged out of control briefly in Madison County near Old Rag Mountain and the Rappahannock County line. Closer to home, the dumpsters at Huntly caught fire because someone was careless and threw something hot into the container.
We should consider ourselves lucky, especially on ihe last one. Firefighters managed to contain the Maze quickly. But what if they couldn’t make it soon enough? The slightest amount of wind that day could have caused the fire to jump over the dumpster walls and spread into the surrounding foliage, giving us a wildfire in our own backyard.
According to Buck Cline of the Virginia Department of Forestry, rainfall in this area is about four inches below normal for the year. In May alone, we were about two inches below normal.
Cline says that a pattern of dry weather that started last summer has not been broken, and that the danger of fire for this time of year is now worse than in previous years. He also commented that forestry officials are planning for the worst, when it comes to wildfires.
We must to be more careful what we are doing outside, and that includes what we throw into the dumpsters. As dry as it has been, the slightest mistake could have devastating consequences.
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