Outside fire burns 50 acres in Boone County

Firefighters from the Boone County Fire Protection District were called to an outside fire in the 11000 block of I-70 Drive Northeast just after noon Friday.

Assistant Chief Gale Blomenkamp said the fire started as a controlled burn, but quickly spread out of control because of high winds and burned about 50 acres of land on three different properties.

The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for Benton, Camden, Maries, Miller, Morgan, Phelps and Pulaski counties until 6 p.m. Friday. Although Boone County was not included in the warning, Blomenkamp said the county and much of mid-Missouri is at an elevated risk for outside fires.

“If we don’t have snowfall or snow cover, we’re going to be catching nature cover fires from now until April,” he said.

Blomenkamp said outside fires are common in the state between the months of February and April due to the dry conditions on the ground. He advises people not to burn anything outside until the vegetation starts to turn green.

“If you have winds over 5 mph, it’s not a good day to be burning,” he said. “The fuel is very dry so the fire can spread very quickly. Just wait until we get some moisture. Then you can go out and burn your stuff.”