Continued dry weather has made worries about wildfires in Pennsylvania grow, particularly as the state heads into the fall, one of two key wildfire seasons here.

Unlike Western states such as Arizona and New Mexico, the Keystone State's worst time of year for wildfires is in the spring and fall. This is one reason why so many of Pennsylvania's skilled wildfire fighters are available to head out to western fires, which are typically at their worst during the summer.

"In Pennsylvania, deciduous trees and leaves cover the ground," said John Bearer, a fire operations supervisor with the Forest Fire Protection Division of the Bureau of Forestry. "Under normal moisture conditions this cover keeps sunlight off the floor of the forest. That's where fires normally start, but because of the ground cover, the floor of the forest is normally moist."

Since the state has received so little rain, trees are pulling water from deep within the ground, making the forest floor drier than it would normally be this time of year Bearer said. The result has been a number of small fires starting up the past few weeks.

"They will stay around until we get a heavy rain or snow cover," he said. "These fires don't tend to be very large, but they do burn deep and are hard to put out."

This type of fire burns roots and animal nests below the forest floor's surface. Normally the ground is wet enough to prevent this type of fire, but not this year. The good news is, as dry as this summer's been, it's not likely the state will see a group of small fires unite to form a big one as happens out West.

"These fires don't spread as much because the soil conditions aren't extremely dry," Bearer said. "They're just dry. If there is a wind, they can spread rapidly, but that's not the case here."

It's an unusual situation for the Keystone State. Normally, the August fire season here is quiet enough that Pennsylvania can share its fire crews with other states battling bigger blazes, then expect to have the favor returned later in the year when fire risk out West subsides, but increases here.

"Right now Pennsylvania's not sending crews," he said. "We've helped a couple of other states fill out crews, so we have about five firefighters out West and another five performing supervisory or administrative positions, but we won't be sending 20-person crews out of state until Pennsylvania has some better weather.

"This is the first time we've not sent people in August. That's not to say this is the worst August we've had, it's just that we haven't had this confluence of needs before. The normal situation is the western fires are bad and we're okay, or the western states are okay and we're bad."

The situation is so severe, Bearer cautions that normal care to avoid creating wildfires isn't enough.

"People need to be extremely careful with anything that might start a fire," he said. "You have to think about things you wouldn't normally think about. We had one fire start last week by a bulldozer, the tracks rubbed and made sparks on rocks.

"All the normal stuff is in effect such as putting cigarettes out, not having campfires, but you have to think harder. Don't park equipment with a catalytic converter in tall grass. Catalytic converters work by getting hot, they run hotter than a normal exhaust system, they run hot enough to ignite grass, a normal exhaust system doesn't. Black powder shooters getting ready for deer season need to think about where they're shooting too."

Most automobiles have catalytic converters, but other types of equipment may not.

People are the primary cause of wildfires in Pennsylvania said Terry Brady, spokesperson for the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, citing reports that identified human responsibility for 98 percent of the state's wildfires.

"That's incredible," he said. "The gamut of carelessness includes people tossing a lit cigarette out the window of their car while driving through a state forest."

Brady said one of the most helpful things the average person can do to help prevent wildfires, is also something that can improve the appearance and safety of their own homes.

"So many people own second homes," Brady said. "If they can keep brush away from their home, keep the grass cut and keep anything combustible away from the home, they'll help keep a fire away from their home and damaging it.

"The other thing we ask is that people keep in tune with local burn bans. People burn trash and if there's a burn ban in place its important to observe the ban."