City of Auburn Fire Division suspends open burning permits - WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

City of Auburn Fire Division suspends open burning permits

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By Annie Hubbell - bio | email

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AUBURN, AL (WTVM) -

The change in weather has not only brought out the jackets, it has also brought out concerns from our local fire officials.

As of Monday, the Auburn fire division suspended all open burning permits until further notice.

"It affects everybody you know, we have numerous construction sites here in the areas and they're not going to be able to burn," shares Auburn Deputy Fire Chief, Rodney Hartsfield.

Hartsfield says the "No Burn Order" is due to the current drought, low relative humidity, low fuel moisture and high wind speed which all can result in extreme fire conditions.

When you have low humidity, fuels like leaves and tree limbs rapidly ignite and burn causing the fire to spread.

The Department of Public Safety has issued this suspension as precautionary measure. There have not been any wild fires in the area recently, however it is believed that this is an easy and necessary step to prevent them in the future.

"With all those conditions in place, fire will grow rapidly and spread extremely fast and it's hard to keep it under control, so it's best we just don't get into that situation," explains Hartsfield.

A continued red flag warning issued by the national weather service indicates fires may grow rapidly and extend quickly under these conditions.

"It is necessary to keep everybody safe," states Hartsfield.

Again, there is no set time frame on when this order maybe lifted, it all depends on Mother Nature and when she decides to turn these conditions around.

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