Fire prevention week includes Wednesday open house in Dover, burn ban reminder

The Dover Fire Department will host its annual Fire Prevention Week open house on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the downtown fire station on West Third Street.
Capt. Mike Mosser says the community can check out the fire engines and equipment. Firefighters will serve hot dogs and kids can get free stuff and play games, including the one where they use a fire hose to knock down “flames” on a wooden “house.”
With fire prevention as the topic of the week, Mosser wants to remind resident the burn ban is still in effect in Tuscarawas and 23 other Ohio counties.
“You are able to use your gas grill, or if you’re camping you can use your camp stove. But open burning of any kind with wood or charcoal is still not permitted.
“We’ve had a lot of people call and ask about that because we had a little bit of rain and things greened up a little bit, but things are still really, really dry.
“There have been many, many thousands of dollars in fire loss in the county due to folks not following the burn ban. There’s been garages, sheds [burned]. There was a house fire. It’s not all in our district, but around the county that were attributed to failure to follow the open burning regulations and being careless with fire.”
The burn ban means conditions are not looking good for communities to host their annual bonfires. Tusky Valley school officials announced their annual bonfire is canceled.
Mosser said it is not looking good for Dover’s annual bonfire during the week of the Dover-New Philadelphia football game.
“If we get a significant amount of rainfall before then, and we’re taken out of drought conditions by the U.S. drought monitor, it could happen, but it’s highly unlikely we’re going to have the bonfire this year for Dover-Phila week.”