Newton Fire Marshall Jacob Halferty is worried about the potential of field and grass fires due to crops being harvested and how dry it is. He says other fire departments in the area have been called to a few small grass or field fires, none have occurred close to Newton yet.

“But it’s getting to the scary point. It’s so dry. The beans they are harvesting are less than ten percent moisture. So things are very dry.”

Due to the extremely dry conditions, a ban on open burning in Jasper County went into effect last Wednesday, October 2nd. It was issued by the State Fire Marshal’s Office at the request of Jasper County Emergency Management Director Jamey Robinson. Robinson was asked to seek the ban on behalf of all the fire departments within Jasper County.