An extremely loud thunderstorm on Sunday morning may have woken you up in the early hours of the day, but it didn't do much to change Estevan's Fire Danger Index rating from the provincial government. As of 7:50 this morning, the danger level still reads extreme thanks to a long stretch of hot, dry weather. 

Sunday morning's storm was a step in the right direction for mitigating fires in the southeast. Cooler nights and declining temperatures overall will also help reduce the risk of fires. But the southeast is far from out of the woods just yet on the fire front. 

"It's kind of bouncing in and out of extreme and high danger," said Estevan Fire Chief Dale Feser. "It is much needed as far as rain goes. Of course, we don't want to see too much where it's going to affect our harvest process in the ranching and farming communities there, but it would sure be nice to get a little bit and knock some of the dust down."

According to Feser, the province uses something called the 30-30-30 rule, where temperatures of 30 degrees and less than 30 percent humidity along with 30 kilometer an hour winds or higher can make fires especially dangerous. The number of 30 degree days will be a lot fewer into September (most likely) but the winds speeds are almost definitely going to top 30 kilometers an hour a few times. And fall is not usually a very rainy time of year. 

"It could very well get worse before it gets better," he said. "I know it is nice to have a little bit drier conditions when harvest time comes around so that way these producers can get their crops off the fields. But a nice mixture of rain at night time would sure help out a little bit too, just to freshen everything up."

Just last week the EFD were called out to three different fires, one of which started in a field northeast of town not far from the Estevan Airport. They were also called to a deck fire and a woodpile fire on Wednesday last week, as dry conditions have made things more flammable.