SC Forestry Commission urging vigilance against wildfire this week
COLUMBIA—With forecasts calling for low relative humidity and high wind speeds across the state Tuesday and Wednesday, the South Carolina Forestry Commission is encouraging the public to exercise the utmost vigilance when conducting outdoor burns of any kind.
These conditions create a greater-than-average potential for outdoor fires to escape easily and spread rapidly, taking longer – and more of our firefighting resources – to contain and ultimately control.
“We’ve had several dry days and have seen wildfire ignitions begin to increase,” said SCFC Fire Chief Darryl Jones. “With the dry front passing through, there will be an increased risk from conducting debris burns and prescribed burns until conditions begin to improve later this week. If you don’t have to burn over the next several days, please consider postponing burning.”
Officials from the only agency responsible for wildfire suppression in all unincorporated areas of the state are reminding the public that most wildfires are largely preventable when the proper precautions are taken. In addition to notifying the Forestry Commission before conducting any outdoor burning, those precautions include creating an adequate firebreak around the area to be burned and having enough personnel, water and equipment on hand to keep the fire under control at all times.
State law requires that citizens outside of unincorporated areas notify the Forestry Commission before burning outdoors.
The notification is a quick, easy, automated process, and the toll-free numbers for each county are provided at the link below: