WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — The state is still in a red flag warning which means the fire danger is extremely high.
There's already been a handful of brush fires across the state in just a few days.
Luckily all of them have been minor thanks to fire firefighters limiting the spread of the flames.
When the state is at an extreme fire danger risk, it only takes seconds for a brush fire to spread.
"It’s typically different in techniques than what we commonly associate with fire fighting," said Alan Zygmunt, the Public Information Officer for the Connecticut Fire Academy.
Putting out those brush fires takes special training, training in full swing at the Connecticut Fire Academy.
"We create almost a path, it’s an area of bare ground where if the fire is coming it’ll hit that and stop because there’s no fuel for it to burn," said Zygmunt.
There are 45 students currently in the fire program.
They learn about the tools needed to put out a brush fire, each one used to move anything from a fire path that can cause it to spread.
"You can utilize it to kind of scrape away or remove grasses," said Zygmunt. "We’re actually removing fuel from the path of the fire so a lot of it involves removing the things that can burn and isolating what is burning now."
Not only do leaves, sticks and dried grass fuel a fire, but in wooded areas, it's harder to control.
"One of the issues we typically see in a forest or wildland fire is there’s no water available so you have to carry the water a half a mile from where the truck is," said Zygmunt.
That's why fire fighters are asking people not to burn, including grilling and backyard fires until the conditions improve.
One small ember can destroy acres of land.
"Spring really hasn’t started. A lot of the grass and other vegetation hasn’t started growing so it’s still very, very, dry especially underneath," said Zygmunt.
The red flag warning is still in effect and it’s not expected to be lifted anytime soon.
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