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Help us keep you safe!

By John Hauschild, Sullivan County Fire Coordinator
Posted 4/18/23

I t seems inevitable, but it’s not.

Every spring in New York State when the weather turns nice, the fire service answers a large amount of alarms for brush or wildland fires. Here in …

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Help us keep you safe!

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It seems inevitable, but it’s not.

Every spring in New York State when the weather turns nice, the fire service answers a large amount of alarms for brush or wildland fires. Here in Sullivan County, local fire departments responded to 83 brush fires in 2021 and 117 in 2022. In 2023 so far, there have been 40 brush fires.

The reason for this is simple: the grass and vegetation are extremely dry. If grass fields haven’t been cut in the previous year, the grass dies out and dries, along with the vegetation in the woods.  That makes it easily ignitable.

This time of year, too, is dry. While April showers do bring May flowers, humidity levels are low when it’s not raining, and that makes the fire danger much higher.

A few fires are caused by electric lines sparking from branches rubbing on them or coming down due to wind and lightning, but most brush fires are entirely preventable, caused by human activities such as burning leaves, lighting up small branches and household debris in burn barrels, and flicking cigarettes or other smoking materials out the car window. 

And these fires take a toll on our departments, firefighters and resources, causing exhaustion, fatigue and needless expense. Even worse, these fires can spread to homes, vehicles and other property, causing injury and even death.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in 2009 implemented a Burn Ban, which continues annually. This year the ban runs from March 16th to May 14th and prohibits outdoor burning. Information on the ban can be found at https://www.dec.ny.gov/.

So many of these fires can be prevented simply by obeying the burn ban regulations. The Sullivan County Bureau of Fire encourages everyone to please be aware of and follow the burn ban. Help our volunteer firefighters and our communities stay safe!

For futher coverage on the recent fires, please see the front page of this edition of the Democrat.

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