Michigan Campers Leave the S’mores at Home – DNR Says Avoid Building Fires

Michigan has some great camping but you may want to leave the smores at home because the Department of Natural Resources says to avoid campfires.

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Michigan's Unusually Hot Spring

I don't remember a Michigan spring this hot since the late 80s. I did some steelhead fishing in March and was very surprised at the temperature jump in early April. I went from wearing winter coats and gloves for one week to wearing a long sleeve shirt the next week.

I live on a dirt road that doesn't get a lot of traffic but when I do it is a dust bowl and will definitely be power washing my house more than once this year.

I also live in an area about an hour north of Grand Rapids where there are a lot of campgrounds and normally when I am doing yard work I can smell the campfires in the area. Not so much in 2023.

Michigan DNR Says Avoid Building Fires

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is urging campers and homeowners to not build any fires due to the elevated risk of wildfires across the state. There has not been any significant rain since the month of April. In these dry conditions, it only takes one ember to float in the air and land and now there is a big problem like the recent wildfire that scorched nearly 2500 in northern Michigan.

The current fire conditions in most of Michigan are either extreme or very high and that is not good. It doesn't even have to be a fire ember that could start a fire, a simple spark of some kind could wind up doing some serious damage to one of Michigan's forests, or even worse, someone's home.

So if you and the kids are craving to roast some marshmallows and make some smores, you will want to save that activity for indoors on the stove or grill at home until Michigan gets some significant rain.

Hopefully, we get that rain soon because we are less than a month away from the 4th of July and this drought could really put a damper on fireworks displays like it did last year.