{"id":9948,"date":"2016-03-09T13:51:24","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T18:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=9948"},"modified":"2017-04-14T15:41:46","modified_gmt":"2017-04-14T19:41:46","slug":"spring-conditions-elevate-wildfire-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2016\/03\/09\/spring-conditions-elevate-wildfire-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Dry and Windy Conditions Elevate Wildfire Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em><strong>Firefighters Battle Mountain Fire in Gambrill State Park<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/c1.staticflickr.com\/3\/2883\/10351108613_d6042519da_b.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"435\" height=\"326\" \/><\/p>\n<p>With spring\u2019s high winds and dry foliage, the <a href=\"http:\/\/dnr2.maryland.gov\/Pages\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Maryland Department of Natural Resources<\/a> urges citizens to use caution in outdoor fire activities and\u00a0postpone open-air burnings. Just last night, nearly 60 firefighters spent two hours battling a five-acre blaze in Gambrill State Park in Frederick County.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cHeavy winds combined with dead, dry leaves from winter, serve as prime conditions for a small, contained fire to quickly transform into a large inferno that threatens lives, property and natural resources,\u201d State Fire Supervisor Monte R. Mitchell said. \u201cEach year, Maryland Forest Service staff, volunteers and local fire departments respond to an average of 500 wildfires that burn more than 4,000 acres of forest, fields and marshlands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Around 10 p.m. on Tuesday, March 8, forest service staff, along with fire and rescue crews from Frederick County, worked until early Wednesday morning fighting a mountain fire in Gambrill State Park. The cause of the blaze is under investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Outdoor debris burning remains the leading cause of wildfires in Maryland, accounting for 30 percent of incidents. While outdoor burning is legal in most areas, the <a href=\"http:\/\/dnr2.maryland.gov\/forests\/Pages\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Maryland Forest Service<\/a> strongly recommends safer and more environmentally-friendly alternatives such as composting or mulching yard waste, leaves and brush, and utilizing larger brush or trees for firewood.<\/p>\n<p>All outdoor burning should be postponed until after a significant rainfall and, even then, should only occur on low fire danger days in accordance with the <a href=\"http:\/\/dnr2.maryland.gov\/forests\/Pages\/fire\/firenotes.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Open Air Burning Regulations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Homeowners should also be prepared for\u00a0wildfire events to minimize and prevent losses. In addition to developing\u00a0a disaster plan, residents should have a\u00a0safety zone with fire resistant vegetation around their home and outbuildings to prevent a forest fire from spreading to their dwelling.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about wildfire safety, please visit <a href=\"http:\/\/dnr2.maryland.gov\/forests\/Pages\/fire\/firewise.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Firewise Maryland<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Firefighters Battle Mountain Fire in Gambrill State Park With spring\u2019s high winds and dry foliage, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources urges citizens to use caution in outdoor fire activities and\u00a0postpone open-air burnings. Just last night, nearly 60 firefighters spent two hours battling a five-acre blaze in Gambrill State Park in Frederick County.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,1965],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-maryland-forest-service"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9948"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9953,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9948\/revisions\/9953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}