Crews contain off-trail fire in Glen Helen, close call is ‘cautionary tale,’ director says

It is likely that the person started the fire the previous night, and it caught the surrounding brush this morning, he added.

By 8:45 a.m., Glen Helen staff in conjunction with Miami Twp. Fire Department were able to cut the tree down, put out the fire, and the Glen presently has staff monitoring the location to make sure it stays that way, he said. Corry Street in Yellow Springs was temporarily closed this morning as fire crews monitored the site.

“It didn’t impact a huge area of the preserve, but it’s a cautionary tale for us and visitors,” Boutis said. “It’s so important to leave no trace, especially under drought conditions.”

Public camping is prohibited anywhere in the Glen, Boutis said, except for those in conjunction with certain Glen programs, not to mention starting a fire. Nearby John Bryan State Park has public camping facilities for this purpose.

Most of Ohio is under drought conditions currently. Of Ohio’s 88 counties, 87 were highlighted as under drought conditions last week on the U.S. Drought Monitor map. A growing section of southern and Southeast Ohio now fall under the worst possible category on the drought scale, D-4, or Exceptional Drought.

In recent weeks, all of Greene and Clark counties and the majority of Miami, Montgomery and Warren counties slipped into the D-2 or the Severe Drought category, which means crop or pasture losses are likely, fire risk is very high, water shortages are common and water restrictions are more likely to be imposed.

“What we’re seeing in the Glen is leaves turning and dropping early, dry soil conditions, lot of stress placed on plants rooted here and the animals depending on them,” Boutis said, adding that the local wildlife is concentrating around water sources.

“Folks in Ohio usually don’t need to spend a lot of time worrying about this, Boutis said, “but if it gets much drier, a simple act of carelessness can spin it out of control very quickly.”

“It’s a cautionary tale for all of us in a region under severe drought. We have to be careful with fire around outdoor places,” he said.