(Undated)– Additional grass fires Tuesday had Dickinson county officials stopping short of issuing a burning ban.
Compared to blazes over the weekend, the ones Tuesday were relatively small. But one over the noon hour came fairly close to a heavily populated area in Okoboji.
The Arnolds Park/Okoboji Fire Department was called to the scene in a grassy area near Chalstrom Beach Plantation near East Lake Okoboji around 12:40 p.m. Officials say no structures were immediately threatened, but the fire did result in a couple of roads in that area being temporarily shut down to traffic. Firefighters were on the scene about 45 minutes.
Another grass fire broke out around 3:30 p.m. (Tues.) in the area of Bur Oak Drive in Wahpeton. The Milford Fire Department responded to that call. It was also said to be a relatively small fire.
Dickinson County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Ehret is urging everyone not to burn until we get some measurable rain.
The National Weather Service has issued a “red flag warning” from Noon today (Tues.) until 7:00 p.m. this (Tues.) evening due to the extremely high fire danger. Officials say warm temperatures combined with extremely low relative humidity and a strong wind will cause any fires that do get going to spread very rapidly and exhibit critical behavior.
