Common sense should tell you don't burn in windy conditions

In the brief span of time it took Jasper Fire Marshal Stephen Williamson to inspect The Jasper Newsboy offices, two calls came in for grass fires and woods fires accidentally started by people burning trash. In another case earlier in the week, a similar fire got out of hand and burned two mobile homes in the Peachtree community.

"We are not in a burn ban," Williamson said, "but common sense ought to tell you that with the windy conditions, now is not the time to light a fire. With cool mornings followed by warm afternoon winds, the grass and brush dries out quicker than when there is a constant temperature."

A controlled burn is not controlled unless someone is watching it the entire time, someone who has a means to suppress the fire, like a garden hose with the water turned on. Williamson defines "the entire time" as being until the embers are out, "until you could put your bare finger into the ashes and not get burned."