Warm temperatures coupled with dry weather have fire officials across Connecticut warning about high fire dangers. This comes after multiple brush fires were reported just this month.
“Be very careful. Do not have any outside fires right now,” Asst. Chief Robert Edwards of the Crystal Lake Fire Department said.
Advice the Crystal Lake Fire Department wants homeowners to remember. Their crews put out a fire in the backyard of an Ellington home Tuesday afternoon.
Firefighters say the three-acre brush fire burned a shed with winds playing a factor.
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“It was moving towards the three houses right over here threatening them,” Edwards said.
They were able to stop the spread of the flames with no serious injuries. While the cause remains under investigation, Edwards says the warm temperatures and dry weather are ripe conditions for a blaze.
“Something could be smoldering and with these red flag warning days, it can expand to a very large fire very quickly,” he said.
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This comes after a brush fire burned six acres at Mohegan Park in Norwich the day before. The flames charred the ground and brush leaving behind ash and soot, but firefighters say no one was hurt.
On April 3, firefighters responded to a large brush fire in Baltic where one person was taken to the hospital. The cause of both fires remains under investigation.
“This tends to be our brush fire season, it's in the spring, before the green out happens, especially if we have dry weather for multiple days like we’ve had this past weekend,” Edwards said.
DEEP says brush fire season is usually from mid-March through May with the fire danger being very high currently due to low humidity creating dry conditions. The agency says an average of 500 acres of woodlands burn every year across Connecticut.
Firefighters say while the weather may be nice, people need to be vigilant.
“If they are doing any kind of cooking or anything like that with the grill, make sure you have some kind of extinguisher nearby in case any ashes get out of it,” Edwards said.
Firefighters say if you do see a fire, remain calm, call 911 and tell them where you see it and remain on the phone until the dispatcher tells you to hang up.
