MARION COUNTY — Area fire departments have issued a burn ban throughout Marion County, with the exception of the City of Centralia, for the weekend due to heightened fire danger in west-central Illinois.

Low relative humidity values, dry fuels, and southwest winds of 12 to 15 mph have kept firefighters busy Thursday and Friday with grass, brush, and woods fires, as well as structure fires, and a large fire in Salem that consumed hundreds of bales of hay. fire on Jolliff Bridge Road with Sandoval assisting. Odin was just called for mutual aid to cover another

Centralia Fire Protection District responded to an out of control field and woods fire Friday on Jolliff Bridge Road with Sandoval assisting. Odin was then called for mutual aid for CFPD on another out of control field and brush fire in the 800 block of East Green Street near Brewery Hill Road just east of Central City.

The Centralia Fire Department responded to an out of control brush fire that had spread in the 2500 block of Meadow Lane near Raccoon Lake, calling in an extra shift of firefighters for additional manpower.