Fall usually means dry weather. This is when the leaves change color and there is fall scenery.
However, this fall has been drier than normal with no rain for most of October. Under these conditions, the Delaware State Fire Marshall ordered a burn ban that began on Oct. 15.
The ban prohibits all outdoor fires, except for “campfires that are clear of all combustibles and surrounded by a non-combustible ring no larger than 3 feet by 3 feet and used for cooking only.”
“We would ask everyone to limit or do not burn outside just because simply of the time of the year — the dry vegetation and the moderate drought conditions that we are in right at the moment,” said assistant state fire marshal Michael Chionchio. “There are some exceptions that is basically summed up by cooking.
“If you want to use a barbecue grill or a fire pit just to cook, you can actively cook. But once you are done cooking, you have to put it out.”
The United States Department of Agriculture provides a U.S. Drought Monitor that was released on Thursday, showing most of Delaware in a moderate drought intensity, along with a small portion in Sussex County that is in a severe drought intensity.