Around central Iowa the ground has become dry and officials say open burning needs to be controlled. 

Guthrie County Sheriff Mary Arganbright says if any residents are going to openly burn grass, the sheriff’s office needs to be notified. Arganbright says notifying them will save surrounding fire departments an unnecessary trip to the scene. 

“People out driving, see the smoke, see the fire, and they call us and if we don’t know about it, then we might have to send the fire department. If it’s a controlled burn and you call in to Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, at least we know that the burn was started out controlled. Hopefully it stays controlled.”

Arganbright adds that controlled burns are allowed until a burn ban is in place. He encourages residents to be careful because they have already had a lot of controlled burns get out of hand.