If you’re planning a controlled burn this spring, a local fire chief advises you to “control the narrative” in regards to the response of safety officials.

Crawfordsville Fire Chief Roy Felts says before your start your fire, start by contacting authorities in advance, “If you’re doing a controlled burn of any type, it’s a very good idea to call the safety center and let them know, because otherwise especially for our fire departments out along the interstate will get a lot of call-ins from people going [down] the interstate, they see a fire, and we get there and see it’s a controlled fire that wasn’t called in.”

Felts says his firefighters can assist you with your controlled burn with a monetary donation to the department. He also cautions anyone considering open burning this week to be aware of the dry and windy weather conditions in the forecast through Sunday which could cause trash and brush to burn out of control quickly.