MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Nearly a month after Gov. Kay Ivey issued a statewide ‘No Burn Order,’ Alabama State Forester Rick Oates lifted all burn restrictions on Monday following rainfall across the state.
“Although we still have not received enough rain to eliminate drought conditions in all areas of the state, we are beginning to see a wetter pattern,” Oates said in a statement.
“With higher humidities and good recovery occurring at night from dew fall, surface fuels have moved out of critical fire danger thresholds and the chance of significant wildfire potential has decreased across the state.”
A ‘Fuel Advisory,’ which means extra safety precautions are required for controlled burns, remains in effect for 11 counties, however, all in the northern half of the state.
Typically the dry season in Alabama, this fall has been among the driest on record, particularly in the northern part of the state. Ivey first issued a statewide Fire Alert on Oct. 24, upgrading the order to a full ban on controlled burns on Nov. 9 due to continued drought conditions.
On Nov. 24, Ivey lifted burn restrictions for 55 of Alabama’s 67 counties, leaving 23 of them – all in the northern part of the state – on a Fire Alert. Continued rainfall and increased humidity, however, saw the remaining burn restrictions ultimately lifted, though drought conditions still persist, Oates said.
“Fires can still escape, especially during gusty conditions or periods of low relative humidity,” he said. “These fires are prone to containment problems and can burn for days in the organic layer of the soil.”
Oates advised Alabamians in the northern part of the state to “exercise extreme caution” when performing controlled burns, and offered several standard precautions to mitigate risks, among them being to rake or plow around burn areas, and to never leave a fire unattended.
Ashley Ravenscraft, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told Alabama Daily News that at least in Huntsville, drought conditions were so severe that from September to mid-November, the area had received less than “a couple of hundredths inches of rain.”
Since mid-November, however, the area had seen more than 4.2 inches of rain, with future forecasts also looking promising, Ravenscraft said.
“We’re hoping that some of the drought concerns, certainly with the fires and everything, will be mitigated more over the coming weeks,” she said.