By Blake Deshazo | The Selma Times-Journal

Dallas County is one of 46 counties in Alabama that have been placed on a fire danger warning due to dry weather conditions.

The Alabama Forestry Commission issued the warning because of the lack of rain in recent weeks and low humidity levels.

“It’s been some time since we’ve seen any significant rainfall and going from summertime months to the fall where leaves are starting to die back … we’re just urging everyone to use extreme caution now,” said Balsie Butler, fire operations chief with the Alabama Forestry Commission.

According to the commission’s website, two wildfires have been reported in Dallas County over the last seven days covering 20.50 acres and four wildfires have been reported over the last 30 days.

“We don’t have necessarily any burn restrictions or burn bans in place,” Butler said “But we are seeing a significant uptick in wildfire calls that we are receiving right now.”

The commission is urging people that have burns to take precaution and postpone burning anything until the conditions improve.

“The ultimate precaution would be to postpone burning until we have some significant rainfall,” Butler said. “You could put a line around a fire … but the embers from that fire could be picked up by the wind and blown over and could start a fire outside of your containment area.”

Selma Fire Chief Toney Stephens said a wildfire could start within the blink of an eye.

“They may actually end up causing a fire that may spread and become something that is uncontrollable and also they can actually be fined for it,” Stephens said. “You can’t predict a fire. As soon as a spark comes along, then you’ve got a problem.”

According to the National Weather Service in Birmingham, the forecast is rain free for at least the next seven days. There are currently 19 active wildfires in Alabama. Over the last seven days a total of 142 wildfires have been reported covering an estimated 1,500 acres of land.