FREE ACCESS: Officials plead with residents to stop burning

SIKESTON — Despite burn bans being in place throughout the region, local fire crews have battled a higher-than-usual number of vegetation blazes in the past several weeks, and they have one, clear message for residents: Stop burning.

“We have been extremely busy with fires started from burning trash and/or cleaning the property. There is a countywide burn ban in effect,” Scott County Rural Fire Protection District Chief Jeremy Perrien said.

As of 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Perrien said his agency alone has responded to more than 25 calls for service since the afternoon of Sunday, Oct. 9 afternoon.

“We urge people not to burn until we have a significant rain,” the fire chief pleaded.

A burn ban has been in place in Scott County since Sept. 23. The cities of Bernie, Lilbourn, Portageville and Puxico along with New Madrid County have also issued burn bans.

Perrien said all area fire departments have been very busy with fires that could have been avoided if residents would stop burning their trash.

“I know several people talk about the farmers burning, but the farmers prepare their fields for burns to avoid fire spread,” Perrien said. “People burning their trash will light it and walk away and check on it every now and then. That leaves a lot of time for bad accidents to happen.”

Firefighters have been worked very hard the past week, Perrien said.

“The rain that we got Wednesday (Oct. 12) was not near enough to make a difference, and conditions remain extremely dry and dangerous,” Perrien said. “With the humidity levels and winds Thursday and Friday, the conditions only get more dangerous.”

The National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., issued red flag warnings Thursday and Friday for all of Southeast Missouri and surrounding areas. A red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now or will shorty. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior, the Weather Service said.

“I know people want to burn trash to get it cleared out, but is it worth burning up other people’s property?” the fire chief questioned in a post earlier in the week on the agency’s Facebook page. “Let alone, the manpower it takes to control these fires. Today we had 20-plus MPH winds and a lot of extremely dry vegetation. We want to continue to urge people not to burn.”

Farmers are exempt from burn bans in Missouri. According to Revised Statutes of Missouri 49.266.3(2), “state agencies responsible for fire management or suppression activities and persons conducting agricultural burning using best management practices shall not be subject to the burn ban.”

Some farmers have still chosen to burn; however, not all of them have, Perrien said.

“Several farmers are not burning this year due to dry conditions, and we can’t thank them enough for it,” Perrien said.

Perrien said Scott County Rural Fire has received assistance from Oran, Morehouse, Sikeston, Miner, NBC, Benton, Charleston, New Madrid, Matthews, Scott County Highway Department, Scott County Sheriff’s Office, South Scott County Ambulance District.

“All of these emergency services came together to help get all of the fires under control,” Perrien said, adding his agency is grateful for them all.

Capt. Derick Wheetley, fire division commander for Sikeston DPS, said the fire division has also seen an extreme increase in vegetation fires since Sept. 1 with as many as 10 occurring in one day.

“We would like remind everyone until we have significant rain, please don’t burn,” Wheetley said. “Most of our fires are from people trying to do clean up around their property or cigarettes being thrown from vehicles. We ask all cigarettes be discarded in a water source and not thrown out windows.”

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s most recent data, which was released Thursday, Southeast Missouri is categorized as either moderate drought to severe drought with all of Scott County and Mississippi County categorized as severe drought. Stoddard and New Madrid counties have portions categorized as either moderate or severe.

The Drought Monitor also said following a drier-than-normal September for a majority of the contiguous U.S., this dry pattern continued into early October for many areas. Therefore, drought coverage increased and intensified throughout the Pacific Northwest, Great Plains, Ohio River Valley, and Southeast. According to the Paducah National Weather Service Office, Paducah had its driest Aug. 1-Oct. 11 on record with only 2.12 inches of precipitation.

The conditions aren’t looking to change much anytime soon. There is only a 20% chance of rain Saturday and Sunday in the Sikeston area, according to the Weather Service.

In the meantime, Perrien, Wheetley and their peers continue to ask residents to refrain from burning.

Earlier in the week Perrien pleaded via the agency’s Facebook to ask people not to burn.

“We have spent several hours yesterday, and overnight and again today fighting multiple different fires in the area,’ the fire chief said. “Stop burning, folks; we are wore out.”