The Pike County Commission received an update on the spring fire season from the Alabama Forestry Commission.

Foresters Tripp Thrash and David Jackson recently gave commissioners an update on what was a rather eventful spring. Thrash said the season was so eventful that the state set two records for the number of fires in the spring season.

“We ended up breaking two state records when it came to fire,” Thrash said. “I believe they were in the 150 range in a single day for both of them. So in that process, everyone was all hands on deck. We got to interact with so many volunteer fire departments, South Alabama Electric, and just so many landowners in that process. And we got to see the teamwork that Pike County has and is capable of. And we couldn’t have been able to have that cooperation without people willing to serve and be part of it. Without that cooperation, it may not have worked out as well as it did. So, that was a real privilege to be able to be part of that service to the public.”

According to the Alabama Forestry Commission’s database, from Jan. 1 through June 30, there have been 1,151 forestry-related fires in Alabama consuming 26,040.37 acres.

In Pike County, so far this year, there have been 13 fires that affected 274.5 acres. The smallest fire was on April 24 and only affected 3.1 acres. The largest fire was on Feb. 22 and affected 119.1 acres.

Jackson said Pike County’s E-911 also played a crucial role during a four-day period during the spring fire season.

“Our dispatch in Montgomery … crashed for about four days,” Jackson said. “Thanks to E911 and Robbie [Pike County E-911 Director Robert Wright] and his team, we were able to survive. Because due to the fire risk and the weather, normally the E-911 call would go to the fire department first, and they would call [the Alabama Forestry Commission] for assistance. But [E-911] was able to streamline that and let us know immediately. That way we were able to catch a lot of them before they had time to get very big.”