AUGUSTA – Drought conditions have prompted Maine Forest Service rangers from the Department of Conservation to ask property owners to be extra careful with all open fires this spring.

Alternatives to open burning should be used when available as ground conditions leading to this spring are among the driest in years, the Department of Conservation said.

Property owners are reminded that burning permits are required by law, and may be obtained from local town offices, town forest fire wardens or municipal officials.

Burning after 5 p.m. usually is the safest time of day as winds usually diminish during evening hours, temperatures are reduced, and fuel moisture contents are greater, making for safer burning conditions.

Open burning of debris during windy days is risky and never should be attempted, the department said.

“Should conditions continue, we may expect spring fires to soon take on more summerlike characteristics, burning deeper and more intensely than normal,” State Fire Control Supervisor Bill Williams said.

Many sections of the state’s forest and grasslands are free from snow and drying rapidly. Even in northern regions of Maine, very little snow exists.

Typically, escaped debris fires early in the spring will burn in a field or pasture and slow down or even stop when they get to the woods, but this spring, both fields and woods are drying out at about the same times.