The southern two thirds of Wisconsin, including all counties in southeastern Wisconsin, are under ared flag warning Thursday that started Wednesday. Per the Weather Service, the areas are under an increased risk of fire through Thursday at 8 p.m.
Gov. Tony Evers has also declared a state of emergency. Evers' Executive Order allows the state to more easily mobilize the Army National Guard’s Blackhawk helicopters to places in most need of aerial fire suppression resources.
The DNR responded to 21 wildfires Wednesday, which burned over 2,500 acres. Several fires occurred in Juneau and Jackson counties, resulting in the mobilization of a DNR incident management team.
The Jack Pine Fire burned an estimated 100 acres and is currently contained. The DNR, under unified command with Fort McCoy, is also managing the 2,800-acre Arcadia Fire. Nearly 80 wildfires have occurred in the last week.
The spring fire season in Wisconsin generally lasts through the month of May.
Alex Bukvich, director of operations for Innovative Weather at UW-Milwaukee, explained the alert: “When we have typically unseasonably warm and very dry air, the red flag warning is essentially an issuance for critical fire weather conditions, meaning that we will be at risk for fire to spread."
Gusty wind conditions play into it too. “The conditions [for a red flag alert] are warm, dry and windy. So if you're not seeing the winds, fire might not spread as easily. So, it has to be a very windy environment and [Wednesday’s] 30 to 35 mile per hour winds fit right in that category,” says Bukvich.
People should avoid burning anything when there’s a red flag alert. “Any early leaf burning, anything like that,” he says. “Even just outdoor fires in your backyard, you want to be very cautious because with the dry grass and vegetation and the strong winds, things can get out of hand very quickly.”
Southeastern Wisconsin typically sees one to two red flag warnings per year. “That's not every year, but that's about the average we'll see,” says Bukvich. Typically, it's in warm season: spring, summer or fall. Bukvich says the red flag alerts don’t happen when there’s snow or moisture on the ground, but instead, when there’s dry grass and vegetation.
"The Milwaukee area is less prone to wildfires and red flag alerts than a place like southern California, in part because of its connection with Gulf moisture," he says. "If you have very humid air, it's less impactful. A lot of times in the warm season when we get hot, we also get humid, and that helps act against, but this time of year with a strong southwesterly air off the high plains [we're] very dry. You also have Lake Michigan, which sometimes, if we have those winds, will keep us both cooler and also not so dry."
It's hard to connect to this particular warmup and fire conditions to the climate change signals, says Bukvich, but these events may happen more often as the climate warms.
