By Brandon Bennett STURGIS— Another caution that came out of the law enforcement briefing August 8th was the danger of fire. Meade County Sheriff Pat West was asked about how the county is vigilant against wildfires. “So currently we’re on a county-wide burn ban. The county commission upgraded that to include any type of ember, anything that’s not in a chimney, our fire danger is really high and the Fire department is chasing fires every day,” he said. Additionally, the ordinance states there’s no smoking outside except in a building or car. “Enforcement is one thing, education is another. We need people to be responsible because one bad fire we can eliminate a campground,” said West. There is a way to inform the public and media about fire events called IPause that works with the National Weather Service and FEMA to identify possible dangers with regard to evacuations like shelter in place and will send out alerts on cellphones.
