Owensboro Citizens Asked to Help Prevent Outside Fires

Stopping just short of quoting Smoky Bear, fire officials are concerned about rising numbers of outside fires in the city. The Owensboro Fire Department announced today they are seeing a marked increase in the number of grass, mulch and outside vegetation type fires due to the dry conditions.

Although there are various causes, the leading cause of ignition for such fires is carelessly discarded cigarettes. For example, cigarettes thrown from car windows find their way to grass and mulch in street corridors and parking lots. Resulting fires have damaged buildings.

Cigarettes need to be properly disposed of in appropriate containers. According to Fire Chief Steve Mitchell, “Preventing these types of fires in our City is actually very simple when proper disposal methods are used.” Chief Mitchell explained there were a high number of outside fires during the 2010 drought, and those numbers are now rising again in 2011 since mid-August.

Outdoor burning of any kind in the city is covered by the new fire and recreational burning ordinance.