#dry spring

Pent-up demand

A ban on open burning is now in effect in much of lower Michigan ... with good reason: A stretch of dry, warm, breezy weather has dried out our fields and forests, turning them into tinder.

Meanwhile, the unseasonably fine weather has also lit a fire under yard clean-up efforts, which produce piles of debris and, of course, the urge to torch them. Judging from news reports, that scenario is responsible for a recent rash of out-of-control brush fires.

On Monday I phoned our township office to ask how long the burn ban might last. “Until we get a good rain and a green-up,” I was told.