In Focus

I can’t recall the last time I have seen the area become so dry. I don’t think I’ve ever had to water my lawn before either.

Looking at the DNR fire danger map we are in “extreme” conditions. It won’t take much for a small spark to cause a massive fire. At the rate fires have been popping up, it’s very concerning.

I feel for the firemen who have spent countless hours battling blazes in this intense heat. I feel like every time I sit down something comes across the scanner. A lot of these fires have unknown causes. It’s possible some of these were started by sparks from a passing vehicle or something along those lines.

If it’s windy and this dry, burning something isn’t a great idea. These firemen could use a break...

A half-hour later...

Go figure. As I write this, a fire department is dispatched to a grass fire. Thankfully it looked pretty small. It just goes to show how bad conditions are right now and how easily fires will ignite and quickly spread.

I, like many of you, am getting tired of watching rainstorms pass by us on the radar. It is desperately needed. If we get a steady downpour that can easily backfire into flash floods with the ground being so dry. We don’t want a repeat of Hewitt and Wadena a few years back where lakes magically formed in fields and basements became swimming pools.

Stay vigilant. We don’t know what’s going to happen, but if conditions don’t change soon, I fear we will be facing water restrictions that other towns have already put into place.

Stay safe out there and pray for the firemen battling these blazes.