Of the 18 fire departments in Genesee County, 15 of them responded to grass fires on Friday and/or Saturday.
A total of 13 separate grass fires were reported over the two-day period, according to Emergency Management Coordinator Tim Yaeger.
Over the 48-hour period, local fire departments responded to 58 emergency calls total.
No grass fires were reported Easter Sunday.
All of the fires were potential violations of the state's new ban on open burning, which prohibits residents from going through the spring ritual of piling up fallen leaves and branches and lighting a match. No open burning is allowed from March 16 through May 14 (for more on the new regulations, click here).
"While there was a high volume of grass fire calls, this happens every year time this year and it's why the DEC and New York enacted new regulations not to allow open burning," Yaeger said. "There is no green vegetation, very low humidity and just a little bit of breeze, so even just a few embers can blow off and start a very large fire."
So-called "controlled burns" this time of year create a number of problems for local fire departments, Yaeger said. Responding to the calls themselves can be dangerous, there is always a danger in fighting any kind of fire, and such fires can quickly spread to structures.
That's exactly what happened in Covington, Wyoming County, on Saturday when the Pavilion Fire Department (Covington is in the Pavilion district) responded to a barn fire at 1:34 p.m.
Byron Fire and several mutual-aid departments were tied up for a couple of hours on a rubber fire on Tower Hill Road. The Department of Environmental Conservation was called in for that blaze.
"One of the biggest concerns we have is when people out there are burning illegally," Yaeger said. "It's one thing to burn brush. It's another thing when they're out there burning tires, pesticides, tanks, things that were never allowed to be burned. That’s a real concern to us. It creates pollution and there's a bigger danger of secondary fires."
Over Friday and Saturday, Le Roy responded to four grass fires, Alexander three (all on Saturday), Darien, three, and Stafford, two. Stafford also responded to a locomotive fire (pictures here).
Stafford 2nd Asst. Chief Scott Kibler noted in comments that he and his fellow volunteers were on duty from 3:30 to 9:30 p.m.
The Batavian was with Stafford on the Roanoke Road fire, and the homeowner there seemed fairly embarrassed to have the fire department out to his house. He said he wasn't clear on the new burn regulations. DEC wasn't called to the scene and there was no apparent wllingness to ticket him.
Yaeger said he instructed fire chiefs back in October to use their discretion on whether to call out the DEC to a grass fire, at least for this first year, while people are still getting used to the change in the law.
"We want to inform the public of the new regulations and try to work with them," Yaeger said.
Yaeger said that if you see a possible controlled burn, but it's not out of control, it would be appropriate to contact DEC. If the fire seems to be spreading, witnesses should call 9-1-1.
