NEGAUNEE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WZMQ) – The National Weather Service is stressing caution with fires, because even though there has been some rain, the risk of a wild fire is still high.
Dry conditions and low precipitation has continued to hit the Upper Peninsula, drying out grasses and other materials that could be fuel to a fire. With only a tenth of an inch of rain in some areas of the U.P. the ground remains dry, so a fire can start easily, even if it’s just by accident.
“Common sense is really the big thing. Most wild fires are started by humans, most of the time not on purpose but some sort of accidental thing,” says Matt Zika, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service. “So usually if we are cautious than we can prevent most of them from occurring.”
Even with more rain to come, the high temperatures that will hit later in the month are going to dry out all the precipitation that we will receive, leaving the potential of a fire still at high, and the fire risk unaffected.
