Video: Drought Safety During Holiday Weekend

COLUMBUS, Miss.(WCBI)—

Most of us consider ourselves lucky if a pop-up shower finds our house during the summer… To cool things off.

However, they’ve been rare across the Twin States.

July fourth is known for it’s fireworks but the dry ground could spell trouble.

It almost seems unamerican to not celebrate the fourth without a barbecue and fireworks.

But it’s the one little spark that can create some big problems… And experts want to get out an early warning.
Families come out to spend time together and celebrate independence day. This year is a little different than the years passed

Tymple Turner a representative of Mississippi Forestry Commission say,”right now we have an keetch byram heat index”

When the fourth of July rolls around all you see are fireworks but this year.. especially in our area, the weather conditions could present an additional danger hazard and Meteorologist Issac Williams says,”some things people may not know is that these dry conditions that we are seeing right now and even some of the…a lot of the are in a drought at least a light drought, the ground is really dry.. so any little spark from some of these fireworks maybe some of the kids are playing with perhaps.. can start a fire pretty quickly given the dry condition we already have in place.”

Last month the area experienced 47 fires due to dry conditions. The heat index makes it slightly warmer and Mississippi Forestry Commission Representative Tymple Turner says with the heat index looming it’s important to take extra precautions this holiday weekend.

“its important like i said to be careful with your fireworks make sure your not shooting them close to dry grassy areas dry leaves or other combustible materials ummm soak the area down before you do it.”

Though temperatures continue to rise Meteorologist Williams says the weather concerns for this weekend could be a lot worse.

Meteorologist Williams says,”the good news this weekend is it’s not suppose to be overly windy because when we see dry weather plus the windy conditions that is really a good recipe for fire spreading.”

usually the fall is the time of year when the wild fire count is at it’s highest. Mississippi has experienced 2,189 wild fires for the year that burned 33,000 acres of land so it’s very important to stay cautious in these dry conditions.