With the entirety of Northwest Arkansas facing a high danger of wildfires, some area counties are instituting burn bans to hopefully avoid catastrophe.
Benton County issued a 24-hour burn ban Tuesday, according to Lonnie Harrell, Benton county’s fire marshal. The ban has been extended ever since and is set to remain active until 7 a.m. Friday, when the county plans to reevaluate conditions and determine whether to extend it again, he added.
The county issues such a ban when weather conditions exist temporarily to ban outdoor burning, according to the county’s website.
The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for much of eastern Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas. These warnings alert fire managers on federal lands to conditions that are highly unfavorable for prescribed burns and may lead to especially dangerous wildfire growth, according to an information sheet from the Weather Service.
Brian Mejia, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Tulsa office, said the sort of weather that typically causes burn bans and red flag warnings to go into effect are abnormally high temperatures, low humidity and lack of rain causing dried out grass and vegetation. This sort of weather isn’t expected to continue in Northwest Arkansas on Friday or through the weekend, he added. Temperatures are expected to get lower and the winds to die down some, but more weather is possible next week that could increase fire dangers, he said.
Pea Ridge National Military Park is planning to conduct prescribed fire operations Friday through Sunday, subject to weather conditions falling within the parameters of prescribed fire prescriptions, according to a news release from the park. Certain areas inside the park, including roads and trails, may be closed while fire operations take place and for a short time after completion to assure visitor safety, the release states.
“Weather conditions permitting, up to 450 acres of fields and forest will be burned to maintain and restore the historic landscape of the battlefield area,” said Shelley Todd, park superintendent.
Reduction of available fire fuels and invasive plant species are additional goals of the prescribed fire operation and smoke-sensitive individuals may want to avoid outside activities while the operation is taking place, the release states.
Harrell said the park has been in contact with the county and will check back in with county officials to see if the park can go through with the prescribed burn. Since the weather is expected to be less concerning Friday and Saturday, officials currently anticipate the burns should be able to happen.
Other Northwest Arkansas counties with active burn bans are Madison and Boone counties. All of Northwest Arkansas is considered to be under a high danger of wildfire, according to the Arkansas Forestry Division.
