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Numerous grass fires pop up across county

Robert C. Reed

Assistant Chief Donald Godfrey, with the St. Stephens Fire Department, uses a fire hose to suppress a woods fire at the home of Paul Russell in the Snow Creek area of Catawba County on Monday afternoon.

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Tips for outdoor burning

By Dee Henry | Hickory Daily Record

Published: March 10, 2009

HICKORY - Catawba County firefighters were busy Monday stamping out numerous grass fires, and while there is no burning ban in effect, officials urge residents to be careful when burning outdoors.

Jeff Icard was on his way to a fire near Geitner Park in Hickory around 5 p.m. It was the Forestry Services representative's second fire of the day. The other was near a rest area off Interstate 40. He said, while there is not a burn ban currently in effect, conditions are right for fires to spread quickly.

"With the wind the way it is and since it's warmed up, the bottom of grass near the ground has plenty of moisture, but the top is dry and will burn quickly," he said.

Icard said if burning is necessary, follow a few rules to avoid starting a grass fire.

"Look for a day with no wind and have a water hose you know works," he said. "And don't burn near the edge of the woods or a grassy area."

Another fire started in the yard of a residence on 24th Street Place, NE, around 2:30 p.m. Paul Russell was burning some papers in a barrel when a scrap escaped through a hole in the barrel and hit the ground, officials said. The winds caught the fire, which according to Russell, spread quickly.

"It went through the grass in my yard and all around that, and a brush pile I've been saving to burn," Russell said. "But I didn't want to burn it today."

The fire ended up burning an estimated quarter of an acre.

A representative for the Hickory Fire Department said their squads handled one brush fire.