BURNING BANNED ONCE AGAIN IN CAPE COUNTY

With five fires burning in Cape Girardeau County Tuesday, increasing the total to more than 20 for the month, restricted burning was ordered by city and county officials.

Continued predictions of dry, warm and windy conditions prompted the request by Jackson, Cape Girardeau and Cape Girardeau County."We're having a lot of problems now with people burning leaves, throwing cigarettes out while they're driving," said Dave Hitt, director of the Emergency Management Agency for Cape Girardeau County. "We're having fires all over the southern part of the county now."In Cape Girardeau, firefighters have responded to nine fires involving uncontrolled open burning since Nov. 1, said Tom Hinkebein, city fire marshal. "With no chance of rain forecast anytime soon, we thought we'd cut our losses," he said.

On Monday a fire that originated from burning garden trimmings in the 1100 block of North Fountain Street spread to two other properties. Another fire this month in the 2200 block of Perryville Road burned paint and the passenger's door handle of a pickup truck, Hinkebein said."Luckily the owner had left the keys in the truck, so we could back it up," he said. At one point on Monday, only one unit was available to respond to calls, Hinkebein said.

The restricted burn order issued by the County Commission reads: "This means that all county residents postpone open, outdoor burning until the fire danger decreases." The commission had issued a similar order in August.

At least nine grass fires had occurred in the county before Tuesday, Hitt said.

Although Jackson has not had any grass fires this month, Fire Chief Brad Golden said the city had adopted its own order on Tuesday based on the county's.

In Cape Girardeau, burning is limited to leaves, garden trim and brush between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Hinkebein said. Nevertheless, any kind of burning is not advised, he said.

The time limit is not new, he said, since windless evenings don't allow smoke from burning to be blown away."You can end up smoking up a whole neighborhood," Hinkebein said.

The restricted burning order should stay in place until the county gets rain, Hitt said.

Forecasts from the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., predict a dry week, but above normal precipitation is expected for the area in the latter part of the month.

Last week Missouri Gov. Mel Carhahan issued a statement asking residents to avoid open burning. He noted that fires had burned thousands of acres of land.