Communities take precautions due to dry spell - burn ban in Germantown

GERMANTOWN/MILWAUKEE/MEQUON -- The Village of Germantown issued a burn ban effective at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 12th until further notice due to dry conditions in southeastern Wisconsin. With the lack of rainfall in southeastern Wisconsin, Germantown is not the only community taking precautions.

Germantown officials said Tuesday there have been a couple small brush fires over the past few days and even Tuesday, the Germantown Fire Department received a number of requests for burn permits. As a precaution, officials issued a ban on outdoor burning.

"It's always better to prevent, instead of having to extinguish the whole thing. Fire pits, yard waste, garbage -- all of those are included in the burning ban. We still allow outdoor cooking, like a gas grill or charcoal grill," John Delain with the Germantown Fire Department said.

The City of Milwaukee Forestry Department is asking people for help watering young trees in their neighborhoods.

David Sivyer says the trees that the city needs help with has a stake on them.

"If all they have is a bucket, a three-gallon bucket with three fills, at the base of the tree, so it infiltrates into the soil," Sivyer said.

Usually by this time of the year, Bill Prahl's soybean field in Mequon looks like a blanket of green, but not so much, so far this year.

Prahl says his crop could recover if rain comes soon.

"The whole field should have the soybeans poking through, but because it`s so dry it's very slow, and we need to get rain soon or else that can affect the crops come fall," Prahl said.

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