MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – Fire danger was at a high on Wednesday, and for the next couple of months the Fire Department of Marquette commented that the dry conditions may continue. Little moisture and humidity in the air or the ground make for a simple equation for out-of-control fires. “With some of the conditions that we might see with this dry temp a lot of things haven’t been water and everything’s a lot dryer than they can be,” commented Firefighter Kevin Serkowski.
Even though there was a colder end of spring, the heat quickly dried up the ground and left no moisture to protect the grass from catching on fire.
“We had a week of solid rain you would think that the woods and everywhere else is saturated or at least wet,” said Marquette County Sheriff Gregory Zyburt.
In a rural, nature-filled environment like the UP, fires can get out of control and quickly become dangerous. Officials say in those incidents, whoever started the fire will be held responsible. “If it spreads you can be found liable for the putting out of that fire and you know the cost of the fire itself so that can be very substantial if you start getting into acres and a lot of land or peoples homes if you started it you could be liable for that,” continued Sheriff Zyburt.
“Even within the city we have Mount Marquette, we have a tourist park we have Presque Isle Island so making sure we’re not having those unauthorized burns, and those burn pits, making a campfire in the middle of the woods. Everybody loves to do but we gotta really consider some of those significant risks that we might be posing too,” continued Serkowski.
The National Weather Service remains hopeful for the predicted cold front on Saturday and lower temperatures next week (06/12) to bring possible rain but until then, burning is banned in the UP.
Click here for more updates on the burn ban.
