Crews battle wind, dry conditions to fight wildfires in Iron County
IRON COUNTY, Mo. (KBSI) – “Just the right mixture of humidities, and winds, and dryness will cause it to burn a lot faster and harder.”
Which is exactly what happened in Iron County from about 1 o’clock Tuesday afternoon through early Wednesday morning as crews fought fires that spread to cover hundreds of acres.
Pilot Knob Fire Chief Steve Stirts said strong, swirling winds made fighting the fire that much more difficult.
“When the wind changes, it blows all the ash and embers and fire across those fire lines, and then it just starts there and you have to backtrack your way back around,” he said.
Stirts said about 100 people from dozens of area agencies were called in to help. He said coordinating efforts among that many departments can be a challenge, but in this case, they did so without a hitch.
“It takes a lot of teamwork and coordination because when you call all those departments in, everybody has to work together,” he said. “And then you have departments that come in that have never been here before, and you have to try to coordinate with them where to go and how to do things and make sure everybody is safe and accounted for, and nobody gets hurt.”
And with continuing dry and windy conditions, Chris Miller with the Cape Girardeau Fire Department reminds people to always pay attention to those conditions before burning anything.
“We just can’t take the chance of the wind picking up some embers and possibly starting a fire in the neighbor’s grass, neighbor’s tree, or even the neighbor’s house, so it’s very important that we always be mindful of the conditions around us,” he said.
