Excessive heat raises risk of wildfires in Minn.

Excessive heat is raising the risk of wildfires in Minnesota, and fire officials are urging people to be careful in dry areas.

Much of the state is still covered with green vegetation, which reduces the risk of fire, said Tom Fasteland, a coordinator at the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center in Grand Rapids. But he says the landscape can change quickly during a heat wave.

"And you might start seeing some of that green vegetation start to die off," Fasteland said. "I think a lot of people are starting to see where their lawns, when they mow their lawns, that they're all turning brown. And that's again just a sign that their soils are very dry."

Fasteland said that people should be especially careful in some of the more recreational areas of the state.

"Around Bemidji, Detroit Lakes, Cass Lake, that's very dry," he said. "We have an area going from, if you were to go from Brainerd down to Little Falls and then over to the Wisconsin border, that's also very dry ... and those are areas that we have concerns in."

In parts of central and northern Minnesota the fire danger rating is "high" or "very high." Six central Minnesota counties have restricted burning permits. Campfires are still allowed statewide.

Precipitation over the past month has been around half of what Minnesota usually receives this time of year.

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