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‘We’re just so dry’: 225-acre fire mostly contained in Northern Michigan

Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Officials said a wildfire in Copemish, on the border between Mesick and Manistee counties is eighty percent contained.

The fire burned around 225 acres and thirty people were evacuated from their homes.

The Department of Natural Resources determined that the cause of the fire was a power line.

“Don’t burn on the dry, windy days when we get some rain, after we get some rain and it’s kind of wet out there that’s the time to burn,” Fire specialist for the DNR Jeff Vasher said. “Don’t burn in the middle of the day, wait until the end of the day when the humidity is back up.”

Vasher said this year has been a busy one for fires.

“Just because we get rain doesn’t mean it’s not going to burn because we are so dry, we’re in a drought, Michigan’s in a drought,” Vasher said. “It’s so dry that if it rained today, we’re so dry that in three days we could have fire again.”

According to the National Interagency Coordination Center Michigan is at an above normal wildfire potential through September.