Maine Forest Service Asks You To Use Caution This Weekend With Outdoor Fires

There has already been 464 wildfires in our state this year.  That's 12% more than all of last year.  It's dry out there, and officials from the State are asking that you be EXTREMELY careful this holiday weekend!

This weekend's dry weather forecast combined with the amount of people in the area and what they'll be doing has every fire official in the area very nervous.  So far this year wildfires have  consumed 752 acres here in Maine.

In a recent press release from the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry’s Maine Forest Service says that "the most common causes of wildfires are escaped debris burns and equipment (machine) caused fires. Most of these fires are caused by people being careless and are preventable. Either the fire gets away from them, or they fail to fully extinguish the fire and it rekindles the next day."

Here is a listing of the acreage mistakenly burnt in the past week alone:

• Mount Abrams Township – 43 acres
• Cathance Township Fire – 30 acres
• Harpswell – 3 acres
• Gouldsboro – 2 acres
• Weld, near Mount Blue – 1 acre

They advise you to check with your local fire department before burning brush or starting a campfire, and that burn permits are required in most municipalities.  Normally when you walk into a local fire department to obtain a burn permit you'll be asked if you have enough manpower, rakes and water to correctly monitor a fire.  When asking for a burn permit the dryness of the area and wind speed are also taken into consideration.

The Maine Forest Service also has an online burn permit system for brush pile fires only. You can visit http://www.maineburnpermit.com for more details.