If you have traveled the four-lane in Ash Flat recently, you’ve likely noticed the new addition of a fire indicator sign, marked by the U.S Forest Service’s mascot, Smokey the Bear.
According to Ash Flat Fire Chief Adam Bates, the sign, has been on his wish list for quite some time and was purchased primarily using grant funds.
“We installed a fire danger indicator sign and as the conditions change, we can go and change that indicator. We can also add a burn ban sign to it if one is issued,” Bates said.
The indicators on the sign read low, moderate, high and extreme something Bates said will come in handy as conditions change.
“Most of the year, we are at a low fire danger, but in our fire season which is usually the early winter and in January through March, we tend to see moderate and high levels. I’ve always wanted to have some type of a burn ban sign,” Bates said. “I watch the fire weather especially during our fire season and we look at it all the time but a lot of people don’t. They may call us here to ask if it’s a good day, but sometimes they just go light a fire and have no idea we’re in a red flag condition. I wanted to have not only the ability to let folks know there is a burn ban on but I thought it was a good way to let people know if the conditions or good or not. There are plenty of days it is not safe to burn even when we’re not under a burn ban.”
Bates said Ash Flat is a Firewise community and each year, when renewing the city’s designation, funding is granted to the department.
“Every few years we have to go through the process to reenlist and it’s a little more paperwork, a more through review, but when we do, we get a larger grant and last year was our reenlistment year. We got $2,500 renewal grant last year and I carried that over and used that money to help purchase the sign,” Bates said.
When asked why he chose the signage, instead of spending money on other projects, Bates said he had seen the sign in other areas and saw the potential for the difference it could make.
“I’d seen this particular sign traveling one time, it’s not anything we’ve done uniquely, it is a ready made sign and it is in several locations allover the country. It is used in National and State parks among other places. When I saw this particular sign, I looked it up and priced it and between the Firewise renewal monies and some money budgeted for fire prevention, we purchased it. It was about $3,300 after shipping,” Bates said.
Bates also explained the project was two fold, the double sided sign serves as a fire danger indicator to anyone who happens to pass by, but it also provides credits which will be applied to this year’s Firewise renewal.
“I have to account for so many dollars of activity of each year. Every year I have to come up with $15,000 to $16,000 worth of work that’s been done in the community to be Firewise. I can turn that in this year to count toward our renewal, it is a dual purpose project there,” Bates said.
In addition to the sign, Bates said he would encourage anyone who plans to burn to visit ArkFireInfo.org.
“I do daily updates, but if someone has questions about the fire danger, they can call us, but they can also go to arkfireinfo.org and that website will tell you if your county is under a burn ban, the danger level and you can go look and see when there are prescribed burns,” Bates said. “It is a useful tool and we use it a lot. It is underutilized.”
Lauren is a an award-winning journalist who decided after 10 years of newspaper experience to venture out. Hallmark Times was born.
