You may think of this as planting season, or the start of beach and vacation time, but it’s also one of Iowa’s wildfire seasons.Assistant State Fire Marshal Jim Kenkel says in fall and spring before the land’s “greened up” completely, wildfires are most common, and can travel miles before they’re put out. This spring, Kenkel says frequent rain has kept fire less of a problem than in some years, and he says it’s more likely to find fires caused by people improperly discarding or storing things like staining rags. Kenkel says house fires most often are caused by human mistakes such as careless smoking, cooking or kids playing with matches. Kenkel adds in a few more weeks, it will be the task of the fire marshal’s office to sound the alert for people bringing in illegal fireworks to the state.
Iowa's Radio News Network
