In this episode of 'Going Public', we speak with Matt Bowyer, Southeast Region Administrator for the Missouri Department of Conservation.
He provided an update on the wildfires in southern Missouri. The fires are primarily in Wayne, Reynolds, and Iron Counties, with some scattered throughout the Ozarks.
The fires started before the round of severe storms, which spawned multiple tornadoes across Missouri during the late evening hours of March 14th and early morning hours of March 15th.
High fire weather conditions also contributed to the widespread nature of the wildfires across Southern Missouri.
The cause of most fires is unknown, but some were likely caused by careless or accidental burning, or power lines blown down from high winds.
As of Friday, March 21st, one fire in Reynolds County was 90% contained. The region is experiencing a seasonal drought, with low humidity and high winds exacerbating the situation. Multiple fire departments and MDC staff are assisting, and the public is advised to be cautious due to ongoing dry conditions.
On Friday, the National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning from 11 AM to 7 PM for all of southeast Missouri and a portion of southern Illinois.
On Wednesday afternoon and evening March 19th, dry conditions and high winds sparked several wildfires in the southern part of the state on private land, conservation areas, and National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service lands.
Specially trained Missouri Department of Conservation firefighting teams from the region worked with the U.S. Forest Service and local fire departments to contain and suppress the wildfires.
This effort included mobilizing staff and equipment from other regions around the state to relieve staff who had been actively fighting fires for several days, including those burning in and around the Caney Mountain Conservation Area in Ozark County and part of the Current River Conservation Area in Reynolds County.
Over the past week, more than two dozen Missouri Department of Conservation Staff in Southeast Missouri responded to five fires that consumed more than 300 acres of land across the region, reaching into the Ozarks.
Here is a transcript of our conversation.
John Moore
I'm John Moore, and this is Going Public. I'm speaking with Matt Bowyer with the Missouri Department of Conservation. He is the Southeast Region Administrator, and he gave an update about the wildfires in southern Missouri. Which counties are you fighting wildfires in?
Matt Bowyer
Currently, primarily our responsibility in the southeast region would be Wayne County, Reynolds County, and Iron County, and so those, the counties, are primarily the responsibility that the southeast region has. But the fires are really scattered throughout the southern portion of the state, throughout the Ozarks portion of Missouri,
John Moore
And it's my understanding that there were some wildfires already underway before the tornadoes hit. Is that correct? Or can you tell me a little bit more about that?
Matt Bowyer
Yeah, the fire weather prior to the tornado was coming last weekend or last Friday was pretty high, and so we had quite a few fires going right up until the time the tornado actually hit.
And we, for example, we had several staff on about four or five different fires, and we end up pulling those staff right before the storms hit to get them home safely, to get them off out in front of that, that weather system that came through.
John Moore
And right now, do you have any indication as to what started the fires? Was it? Was it lightning? Were there any prescribed burns or fires going on at the time when some of these [wildf] fires broke out? Or do you know the cause of the blazes?
Matt Bowyer
We don't know the causes of the majority of fires specifically. Certainly, some are human-caused, where someone's maybe just in, you know, burning some trash or something like that.
We do get some natural cause, I guess, sort of in the way of, I guess natural cause may not be the best word, but some caused by like power lines being taken down by trees or high winds.
And then those starting, sparking a fire. And every once while, you'll see a prescribed fire. Maybe get out of prescription maybe someone's maybe when someone's doing a prescribed fire, and the winds pick up and that fire may jump across those fire lines, but that's fairly rare in these cases.
John Moore
Have any parks or access areas been closed? And are there any road closures as well due to the fires?
Matt Bowyer
There are no closures of any MDC areas that I'm aware of due to fires. Typically, we're doing prescribed fires. We may close off a road temporarily during those but as far as the wildfires go, we don't have any closures that I'm aware of.
John Moore
As far as where we are now, we're talking on Friday, what percentage of the fires are contained, or how many are still burning out there, and Wayne and Reynolds County,
Matt Bowyer
In Reynolds County, we have one fire that is still actively burning, and that fire is probably about 90% contained. That's actually where I'm at now, that that fire looks pretty good, right now, the problem is, is, typically we have fires that are starting. We're able to get them contained within it within the day, and then we get new starts the next day. And that's kind of where on the cycle right now, where we've got really, really favorable weather conditions for fire, these really dry days, where humidities are really dropping down the 20s percent range, and these high winds, you know, today is a good example of Red Flag Warning out for today.
And so these winds are picking up, and the humidities are dropping, and the fuel moisture is just really dry. It's a typical time of year that we get a lot of wildfires, or most wildfires are it's just kind of February March into early April timeframe. So it's not uncommon for us to have that probably this year we've just seen a pretty, pretty consistent stretch here where we've had high winds, low humidity, and dry conditions.
You know, even when the tornado hit last Friday—we didn't get near as much rain with that system as we might typically get when we get these systems in March, uh, usually those are associated with, you know, half [and] to up to two inches of rain. These last couple of systems we had, just haven't produced much rain. So the fuel moisture is pretty low right now.
John Moore
Is part of Missouri actually under a drought, or has it been under drought conditions for quite a while as well?
Matt Bowyer
I'm not sure. I won't speak to that. I mean, we've, we've been dry over the last several years, just, just maybe not as much, I think drier than, than maybe normal, a little bit throughout the years that that kind of, I don't think that's really been the big issue.
I think really it's, it's kind of the seasonal time frames like this. Right now. We're in kind of a seasonal drought where we just, we're just not getting any systems that are producing a lot of rain, as they come across, they're pretty light on the rain, but they've got lots of wind and, you know, low humidities out in front of them. So I think it's more of a kind of seasonal thing that you typically see, but it's a little drier this year than normal.
John Moore
And when do you see things improving? As far as as weather? Just looking ahead to the next few days.
Matt Bowyer
Well, I think we're supposed to get some rain Saturday night into Sunday. Hopefully that produces enough moisture that kind of slows things down. But we are certainly in a pattern here over the next few weeks where we're it's going to be we're going to need to make sure folks are just being careful.
You know, I think it's really important for folks to understand that this is typically our driest time of the year when it comes to wildfires and anytime you get fire on the ground this time of year when we don't have any, you know, the grass is still pretty brown. We don't have much green up from that. Trees are still not putting leaves on yet. So until we start to see green up, you start to see, you know, people start mowing your hards. You start to see pastures really turning green, and you start to see leaves really starting to or trees really starting to leaf out. I'd say the next three or four weeks, it's still going to be something. Everybody needs to keep an eye out and just be really careful.
John Moore
And how many crews have you had helping you, and how many different fire departments,
Matt Bowyer
Multiple fire departments. So all the rural fire departments really, in this area are great and work well with Department Conservation. Of course, we work with the US, Forest Service, National Park Service, and other partners out here on a daily basis. And then, you know, our MDC staff come from all different types of MDC employees are coming out here to help with the fire.
Many of our staff are qualified to do wildland fire and prescribed fire work and so, you know, maybe our fisheries biologists and maybe our wildlife biologist or foresters, all those folks are coming out here and helping us and stepping up when it's time to to get out there and fight fires and, and that's really great thing about our agency and really great to work with all those partners with the rural fire departments and even our other government agencies are working with
John Moore
Okay, and what [is] the best way to find out if there's any areas that have been impacted or being impacted, what's the best way to find that out?
Matt Bowyer
I think maybe, maybe the best way is, just keeping keep an eye out for your local news agencies' communication. We typically try to communicate through our local news efforts, our social media, of course, and let folks know where there are issues, or when it's time, you know, just to be extra, extra cautious when you're outside doing outside activities that may spark a fire.
John Moore
So, I also saw that Mark Twain National Forest Service is also, [posting] online. They're kind of keeping people up to date on that as well. I imagine [they are] certainly one of your main partners out there as well.
Matt Bowyer
Yeah, [they work] daily with us, Forest Service and the folks at Mark Twain, and communicate back and forth on all of our wildland fire incidents. And just, yeah, they're a great partner. And work well with them throughout the spring and fall, when we [are fighting fires].
Transcribed by Otter.AI with edits for clarity.
