Fire risk is elevated this weekend throughout the area, and already local fire crews have dealt with at least a dozen grass fires and two housefires.
Grass fires were fought near Fort Madison, Danville, Kingston, Wapello, Lomax, Fairfield, What Cheer, Hedrick, Blakesburg, Dallas City, and Gladstone as dry conditions combined with 45 mph wind gusts.
At least two houses caught fire on Sunday. A house on Walnut Street in Gladstone was completely engulfed by fire and another house in Colchester also caught fire.
No Burn Bans are in place, but the National Weather Service strongly recommends not burning anything outside.
