Since Friday, the Albany Fire Department has been very busy according to Fire Chief Robert Roeper.

Albany firefighters have responded to 13 calls from Friday to Monday morning that range from vehicle fires and wrecks to field fires to house fires.

“We’ve had busy stretch,” Roeper said. “We’ve had two woods fires, a fire at the old sawmill, a trailer fire Monday morning and several vehicles that were involved in wrecks.”

Hopefully, the heavy rains that fell earlier this week in Clinton County will help to eliminate the extremely dry and dangerous conditions.

However, readers are reminded that during the spring months that bring near daily high winds that quickly dry the ground and vegetation, dangerous conditions can return in just a matter of days.

As of right now, Clinton County continues to fall under the spring burn ban, making it illegal to burn anything outdoors except under certain conditions and hours.

With dry conditions and strong winds most days, a fire can spread quickly in wooded areas.

“We are under a burn ban right now until April 30,” Roeper said. “There was a wooded fire down at Ted Papineau’s place that burned nine to 10 acres.”

Roeper said only items that haven’t been manufactured are allowed to be burned. He said if anybody has a control burn to call 911 and let them know that a control burn is planned.

“They can tell you if there is any red flags on the burn situation,” Roeper said. “If people would call and let us know, that will keep us from having to get the trucks out and make a run. A lot of times we will get there and it will be a control burn.”

The burn ban came into effect on February 15 and lasts until April 30. This law prohibits any person to burn anything within 150 feet of any woodland or brushland between the daylight hours of 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.