Fire danger starting to creep up

While we had a wet start to the month, the past several days have been rather warm and very dry.

Now the fire danger is starting to creep up.

It might seem counterintuitive, considering how much rain most of us received in the first week of May.

But most of the viewing area is now in the moderate category for fire danger and some spots in the Northwoods are up into the high category.

• DNR fire danger map

From Oconto and Langlade counties and north are the areas that are under the high categories. They have burn times restricted to between 6 p.m. and midnight.

There are a few reasons why the danger diminishes as you move south in our area. The biggest reason is that it is greener. Trees and plants are just about getting to the end of their budding phases and are almost fully green. It's a different story up into the Northwoods.

“So, in the Fox River Valley, it's getting pretty green. We had seven inches of rain in some parts of the valley last week. That's excellent for fire prevention. But the further north you go, the less precipitation we received, and so the vegetation is just behind development up there,” said Curt Wilson, DNR regional forester.

Wilson says if we get some rain on Tuesday, as predicted, and see this continued warmth, vegetation growth will continue and the fire season should tail off in about a week or so for the Northwoods as well.