By CRAIG FREILICH

If St. Lawrence County doesn’t get enough rain over the weekend, Emergency Services will ask the county board chairman to declare an extension to the state’s open burning ban which expires May 15.

“A lot will depend on what happens with the amount of rain we get,” said Jim Chestnut, St. Lawrence County Emergency Services Supervisor of Dispatch Operations.

Dry conditions this week already had fire departments on alert for brush fires when the National Weather Service issued a “Red Flag Warning” for St. Lawrence County Monday emphasizing the danger a brush fire could pose due to especially low humidity and high winds on top of already dry conditions.

There was no rain to speak of for the rest of the week.

“We usually take a three to-four day outlook, and the state ban will cover us through then. If we get some rain and things green up, we probably will not ask for an extended ban,” at least not right away, Chestnut said.

“If there’s not much rain, I imagine we’ll request action from the chair of the county board, on the recommendation of the emergency services director,” Chestnut said.

Chestnut said several weather forecasters are predicting between three-quarters of an inch and an inch and a half of rain “from Saturday night through next Tuesday or Wednesday,” which he says will likely be enough to forestall any need for an extension of the ban, “but we’ll have to see just what we get.”

And he said even then, if there’s not much rain for some time after that, a county-declared ban may be requested.

“If we get another dry spell with low humidity and high winds that dry things out, we might have to request a continuation of the ban,” Chestnut said.