According to Coleen Vansant with the Alabama Forestry Commission Alabama currently has 27 active wildfires across the state. Twenty of those are in the north-one half of the state, from Bibb and Shelby across to Talladega, Clay and Randolph north to the Tennessee line and from Mississippi to Georgia. In addition, they have already contained or controlled 22 in this same area as of Sunday.

As of Sunday, aside from a few equipment use and power line fires, the two leading causes were arson and debris burning.

Vansant said that the Forestry Commission has been begging for the public’s cooperation for almost two weeks but says  that people apparently do not understand how critical the problem is right now.

A Fire Danger Warning remains in effect for 47 Alabama Counties including Cherokee County which basically means do not do any outdoor burning – period. Vansant said that you should also refrain from throwing cigarettes out the window of your vehicle.