ARKANSAS, USA —
Dennis Cavanaugh with the National Weather Service Little Rock said that specific weather conditions led them to issue a red flag warning.
“Given the low relative humidity, the pretty strong winds, and the dry vegetation, it has all the ingredients necessary to allow for a grass fire to spread quickly,” said Cavanaugh.
Cavanaugh added that a warning like this isn't something they give often.
“Don't usually happen at the same time here in Arkansas. But also, the soil conditions, almost the whole state is in some sort of drought category,” she added.
According to Cavanaugh, we've faced the opposite problem in the past few years— with too much water leading to flooding.
The warning has fire departments keeping a close eye on their communities especially smaller ones like the Gravel Ridge Fire Department.
“We've fought several fires during the summer of the year. But this is worse because of the drought,” said Shawn Sullivan, Captain of the Fire Department.
Sullivan said that the thing at the top of her checklist on days like this is making sure their brush truck is ready to go.
“That carries 400 gallons of water. It's made strictly for just wildfires and grass fires and stuff like that,” said Sullivan.
Cavanaugh said that even when the red flag ends, it won't mean that the natural state is in the clear.
“The very dry air and you know, the dry vegetation that's still going to be around, so it's, the grass fires can't spread, but they're not going to be as aided by the wind,” said Cavanaugh.
For now, he hoped for rain to help.
“If we don't get any, we could wind up into November and December pretty dry and we do get more frequent fronts, you know, as we get closer to winter, and so that worries me a little bit,” said Cavanaugh.