Spring is less than a month away. Spring open burning began Monday, March 1. A permit is not needed during the months of March and April.

A burning permit is required May 1 through June 30. It is illegal to burn at all July 1 through Sept. 30 during forest fire season. Please call the air quality hotline (751-8144) each day that you burn during the burning season. The report will be updated by 8:40 a.m. on weekdays and by 5 p.m. Friday for the weekend. Remember that burning man-made materials is prohibited at any time.

Burning permits are not required for campfires. These fires must not exceed 4 feet and must consist of materials that do not exceed 3 inches in diameter.

Bigfork Fire Department would like to thank Doug Mahlum and Montana Athletic Club for sponsoring our metabolic assessment, which is part of our fitness program. Twelve firefighters went through the program.

For the month of February, Bigfork Fire Department responded to seven incidents: passenger vehicle fire (1), land medical helicopter (1), medical assist, assist EMS crew (3), smoke scare, odor of smoke (1), and carbon monoxide detector activation, no CO (1).

Top responders were Lt. Mike Kelecy (5) and firefighter Eric Underhill (5).

Loeffler is the chief of the Bigfork Volunteer Fire Department.