The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Bureau of Forestry Fire Danger Rating is on the rise throughout the state, Warren County included.

The observed fire danger for Friday listed Warren County as one of just seven counties in the “moderate” range. The rest of the state was “high” or “very high.”

The three-day forecast – Saturday, Sunday and Monday — also list the county as “moderate.”

So what does that mean?

“(A) ‘moderate’ rating indicates that things are beginning to dry out and there is an increased danger that a fire could ‘escape’ and become a wildfire,” DCNR District Forester Cecile Stelter explained.

“Some precautions to take when burning include: Burning on damp cool, non-windy cloudy days; or early in the morning or later in the evening, when temperatures drop, and relative humidity goes up,” she said. ” Avoid burning on windy days and make sure all fires are completely out before you leave.”

Stelter explained that the rating system is “based on several measurable factors, which include, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, fine dead fuel moisture, energy release component, Burn Index, and Haines Index, which are all utilized to determine the current, and forecast Fire Danger Ratings.”

Those forecasts are updated twice per day, she said, by the DCNR’s Division of Forest Fire Protection.

Should the risk level increase to high here, that would be the point when fire officials would caution against burning.

Stelter said that 75 to 80 percent of wildfires occur during the spring.

“Our Spring Fire Season in Pennsylvania is from when the snow melts until ‘green-up,’ which is when all trees, and shrubs are fully leafed-out,” she said. “Of course due to the size of Pennsylvania, this can vary up to several weeks from one part of Pennsylvania to another. Here in our region, a typical ‘spring fire season’ begins in mid-March and lasts through mid-May.”

She added that 99 percent of wildfires are “human caused.”