RALEIGH -- It's been over a year since Hurricanes Fran and Bertha devastated North Carolina's forests, but the fire danger the storms left us with can still cause problems this spring.
Spring is when our state usually experiences it's worst fires -- and even though the state has received high amounts of rain than usual, it doesn't take but a few dry days combined with high wind to make conditions just right for forest fires.
The North Carolina Division of Forest Resources is encouraging homeowners to be extremely careful and follow all state and local regulations when burning debris this spring. Debris burning is the number one cause of forest fires in North Carolina. In 1997, North Carolina logged approximately 4,664 forest fires for a total of 16,259 acres burned. Most of those fires were started by debris burning.
Tips for safe debris burning include:
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