Dry weather puts Shoals on fire alert

With dry conditions and no heavy rain in sight, the state Forestry Commission is restricting outdoor burning.

The commission issued a fire alert Monday for the northwestern portion of the state, including Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale and Lawrence counties.

During the alert, permits for outdoor fires will be issued only with the approval of state forester Linda S. Casey.

Marion and Winston counties were placed under a fire alert March 21.

Rainfall in the Shoals is more than eight inches below normal for the year. In some parts of the state, the rainfall deficit is more than 10 inches.

"It's as dry as I have ever seen for this time of year," said John Everitt, Colbert County manager for the Alabama Forestry Commission. "We're having lots of fires, and they are hard to control. All it takes is for one little ember to blow across a fire line to restart a fire you almost have under control."

Temperatures are above normal for the year. Monday's high temperature of 87 degrees tied a record for the date set in 1908.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports the Shoals is in a moderate drought. The Huntsville area is in a severe drought.

"You have to go back a number of years to find a spring that started out this dry. It hasn't been this dry in March since the middle '80s," said Steve May, fire division director for the forestry commission.

Since March 1, more than 1,000 woods and grass fires have scorched more than 20,000 acres in Alabama.

Volunteer firefighters from Alabama and Mississippi and foresters battled a wildfire in western Colbert County on Friday and Saturday that blacked more than 160 acres and threatened several homes. A wildfire in Franklin County burned more than 500 acres during the weekend.

Fire departments in Florence, Muscle Shoals and Tuscumbia have stopped issuing permits for outdoor fires in the cities until it rains enough to reduce the threat of wildfires.

"As dry as it is right now, you can turn your back on a fire for a minute and it will escape. People don't need to be burning anything outside until we get some rain," said Steve McEachron, the forestry commission's manager for Lauderdale.

Foresters are not alone in being worried about the drought.

"If we don't get some rain quick, we've had it," said Lauderdale farmer Rickey Behel.

The dry weather is taking a toll on area pastures, he said.

"Another month of weather this hot and dry and there's not going be any grass left in the pastures around here," said Wayne County, Tenn., cattle farmer Anthony Skelton.

Farmers who grow crops are also feeling the effects of the drought. Colbert County farmer Danny McWilliams Jr. planned to plant corn Monday but postponed the planting until it rains. "It's so dry, farmers are having trouble getting their planters to go into the ground."

J.D. Moomaw, of Florence, said corn he planted in his garden more than a week ago has not sprouted because the soil is too dry.

Farmers who are braving the dry conditions to plant their crops are dealing with huge clouds of dust stirred up by their tractors.

Jason Elliott, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Huntsville, said there is no end in sight for the dry conditions. There's a slight chance of rain tonight and Saturday.

"To get us out of this drought, we need five to six inches of rain spread out over several days. Right now, there's nothing like that in the forecast," Elliott said.

Dennis Sherer can be reached at 740-5746 or dennis.sherer@timesdaily.com.