Firefighters urge safety on controlled burns

The danger of uncontrolled fires to life and property is very real, making the established guidelines for fire safety imperative, according to Pine Haven Volunteer Firefighter and assistant Chief Don Lancaster, who would like to remind the community to take care as we head into a potentially dry spring and summer.

“It was a tremendous fire, we were lucky to get it stopped when we did,” he says regarding the recent 104-acre blaze near Sundance at last Tuesday’s council meeting.

In at least two fires reported last week, embers were still alive from a slash pile burn and subsequently reignited. This is not an unusual situation; Lancaster noted that, in his years of experience, “I’ve seen those [embers] burn for three weeks or longer.”

Landowners are not allowed to burn in town limits and county policy asks people outside of municipalities like Moorcroft and Pine Haven to “inform the [Crook County] Sheriff’s office when they are going to burn a slash pile or whatever else on their property”. This includes the location, who will be monitoring the fire and when they plan to ignite the debris pile.

“That way, we won’t get a call from somebody saying ‘hey, we’ve got smoke coming up. That’s what we’ve had lately,” he says.

When property owners do not inform the authorities of these maintenance burns, Lancaster explains another negative aspect of not following this guideline: “It costs a lot of money.” A call from someone else comes into the sheriff’s office about a flame not previously discussed so Dispatch calls the fire department and the engines roll.

If the fire is on private property and under control, the responding units return to their garages having wasted time and fuel. “It wouldn’t be necessary if they would let us know,” he says.

Fire Marshal Doug Leis added to this point: “It sure would be nice if they would at least call them into the Sheriff’s Office so that when people call in [about] seeing smoke, the sheriff’s office can say that is a controlled burn before we’re alerting all the fire departments and taking people away from their jobs.”

Lancaster advises anyone who plans to burn during these early spring days, what happens when those who are responsible walk away: “You think it’s out, but the first time the wind comes up, it’s going to start blowing embers. If that’s two or three weeks after the last moisture, it’s gone. That’s what happened in this situation.”

While the ground may be muddy, the vegetation is still quite dry and can feed the coals for some time.

Being informed helps the surrounding fire departments be aware and run checks throughout the day of the burn and beyond, ensuring the safe elimination of embers so that accidents like this will not threaten homes, families and livelihoods in Crook County in the future.

Leis said that no citations are given at this time for not reporting privately scheduled fires; however, “It’s just common courtesy to call it in.”