Your local fire department and everyone who is called to the scene of an emergency are counting on you…to do nothing!

At least, they want you to not burn anything as the state-wide burn ban continues through the 15th of May. As harmless as it might sound, one spark can turn a peaceful spring day into an all-hands-on-deck situation which puts everyone involved in danger. 

In Forestburgh alone there have been six calls while under the burn ban, which started just 22 days ago. If you are tired of hearing the sirens go off, how do you think they feel when they’re half-way through a delicious dinner, tucking their kids into bed with a bedtime story, trying to get to work – or having to leave work – watching their favorite show at the apex of the episode, or simply just trying to catch up on sleep after a full day at their day jobs? 

The best way to make sure those important and often unassuming moments go uninterrupted for your dutiful, self-sacrificing neighbors is to just do nothing. Plus, when in a burn ban, you’re really playing with fire because it might not be just your immediate neighbors impacted by a brush fire. 

Fiery memories turn our recollection to the blazes of eastern Canada which turned our own skies orange and smokey for almost a week, as well as the recent infernos in Long Island and California. Twenty-nine people were reported to have lost their lives in the Los Angeles fire back in January. And the Long Island wildfire started when one family was trying to make smores on an outside grill. As innocent as this may sound, property and lives could have been lost there, too. 

Our area is not impervious to the possibility of those massive fires catching here in our own backyards and like Smokey the Bear said, only we can prevent forest fires. 

So please, the burnables and early campfires can wait a few more weeks. It might just save someone’s property and their lives. In a burn ban, patience is practicing safety.