County fire crews battle brush fires over the weekend

Fire crews in Jackson and Harrison counties were busying battling small brush and woods fires this weekend. Fire officials urge caution when it comes to burning things in the days to come.

Earlier Sunday, Pass Christian fire crews and Harrison County Fire Rescue responded to several small brush fires in the city.

In Jackson County, fire crews there ran into the same scenario, especially over near Big Point and Paul Coleman roads.

While most of these fires have been contained, officials say the wind, combined with low humidity makes conditions favorable for fires to pop up.

Harrison County Fire Chief Pat Sullivan said, “We should have a significant chance of weather coming through Tuesday which is going to bring us some rain and the dry conditions that we’ve had that may help but that isn’t going to change the fact that we have winds gusting up to 30 to 40 miles per hour. Right now, the winds are steady blowing and when we have those types of conditions the fields are right for fire, it moves very fast. So, when we get a fire started in these conditions and the winds pushing it, it’s very hard for us to control it and to stop it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard somebody say I’ve started this little pile of debris and it just got away. So, they have to know what the winds going to do within an hour of when it started because that wind will pick that fire up and move it very quickly.”

There is no active burn ban, but consider the conditions outside before starting a fire.