Minnesota DNR warns against heightened spring wildfire dangers
LAKE CITY, Minn. (KTTC) – With the arrival of spring, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is preparing firefighters for the season as the dry weather brings increased risks of wildfires. Emergency responders gathered in Lake City Tuesday morning, attending the wildland firefighters’ annual refresher training.
Spring is when the gopher state has the most wildfires, according to the DNR. It stated Minnesota has more than 1,500 wildfires each year—90% of which are caused by people and around 75% of this burn in April and May.
DNR Wildfire Prevention Specialist Karen Harrison shared the wildland firefighters' annual refresher training is a national and statewide effort to always be ready for such blazes. She said, “It’s really important for wildland firefighters to do an annual refresher course to think about [questions such as]: what happened last year? What are some lessons that we can learn? [What are] ways to be safer? Our number one priority is always to protect people and to make sure that firefighters are safe.”
The DNR stated the number one cause of wildfires is escaped fires from vegetative debris burning. It said every spring burning restrictions go into effect to help prevent unintended wildfires—that these restrictions have helped reduce wildfires by 30% over the last decade.
“I think it’s really important to not get caught off guard, because in spring we have a lot of changing weather patterns,” Harrison said. “It might still snow. We might get some more rain but grasses and leaves on the ground can dry out as quickly as one hour after precipitation ends so that wildfire danger is still potentially there even after a rain in the morning.”
Harrison recommended people to check if there are any burn restrictions before beginning activities involving fire. She said, “Taking some really easy steps like always making sure any campfire you have is all the way out cold can help reduce the number of wildfires we see this year.”
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