Fire Department sees uptick in calls as weather warms and spring burning continues

It’s spring, and with the good weather comes spring cleaning and an increase in fire incidents. Lovell Fire Dept. Assistant Chief Bob Mangus said this time of the year is typically a busy time of the year for the all-volunteer fire department in Lovell. The firefighters responded to calls this week that involved both brush fires and broken gas lines.
Mangus said two calls over the weekend involved broken gas lines that were hit by farmers while they were cleaning out ditches with back hoes. He noted that in cases where Montana-Dakota Utilities finds a line location service was not employed, those hitting gas lines are required to pay for the damage incurred.
Typically, fires happen this time of the year when the wind changes direction during a controlled burn of a field or a ditch. On Saturday, a controlled burn on Highway 32 near Road 5 caught a stand of dry trees on fire, sending firefighters to the scene. The fire, which was on farm land owned by Casey Crosby, was quickly extinguished.
“We had a real rough week a few weeks ago, where the wind was a killer,” said Mangus. “This week has been some smaller fires with less wind. Most of the time it happens when the wind comes up unexpectedly. This happens every year. We have a busy month.”