The Alabama Forestry Commission says through the weekend, burn permits will be restricted to certified prescribed burn managers only.
Balsy Butler, assistant division director for the Protection Division says due to low humidity, fires have spiked over the past week by a whopping 600 percent.
He says that many of the calls they've responded to have been fires that have escaped permitted burns. He says while the Commission understands the need for land owners to burn, it's important to wait until conditions improve.
"We understand, we appreciate the fact that so many stakeholders and landowners throughout Alabama use fire as a tool to manage their land," says Butler. "But right now we just feel like for safety reasons, we want to hold them to pause and hold back on burning until we either get more precipitation or we can start seeing those RH levels recover."
Butler stresses how tough it is to deal with fires that get out of control. That's why they're grateful for people who adhere to the no burn requests.
He also asks everyone to continue to be patient and hopes more rain will come through to relieve the dry conditions.
