(La Porte County, IN) - Burning leaves resulted in a large brush yesterday in La Porte County.  The fire started in the morning near Fish Lake and was still burning several hours later, despite the efforts of firefighters from about a dozen departments.

 

So far, no buildings have been reported as damaged.  However, Indiana Highway 4 was closed to allow the blaze to be fought without restrictions or distractions.  A helicopter, called in from Lake County, was also used to take water from Fish Lake in an attempt to control the flames.

 

Accoriding to Police, there were other field fires in the county yesterday that spread out of control while people burned their leaf piles.  Coolspring Township Assistant Fire Chief, Warren Smith, said the conditions are too dry to burn leaves despite rainfall in recent days.  He said high winds dried out the moisture in the ground enough to make burning leaves a hazard, especially with winds traveling through at 20 mile per hour yesterday.

 

Smith said people should never burn leaves on windy days because of the risk of flames spreading and flying embers starting other fires by landing on dry terrain elsewhere.

 

“It’s just using common sense and burning when it’s the right conditions. Wind is everybody’s enemy when it comes to burning leaves,” he said.

 

Photos by Patrick Thompson