News

Oswego County Fire Coordinator Donald Forbes is asking people to be extremely careful with cigarettes, charcoal grills, campfires and other flame sources, and to stop all outside burning of hay, grass and brush in Oswego County. Forbes said the county has seen an increase in grass and brush fires this past week and that fire officials around the county report their water supplies for fighting fires are critically low.

Oswego County is now officially under a drought warning and County Legislature Chairman Kevin Gardner (District 13, New Haven) is asking citizens to voluntarily conserve water. Legislature Chairman Gardner said Oswego County was included in a heightened drought warning which was issued Thursday (Aug. 4) by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Mayor William Barlow announced today (Aug. 4) that due to severe drought conditions, the city’s ground water storage tank level is approaching a critically low level and continues to be depleted at a rate that could cause a significant health hazard if water conservation measures aren’t undertaken immediately by all water users. Mayor Barlow requests that all users of city of Oswego water, which includes the towns of Scriba and New Haven, curtail the use of water as much as possible for the next several weeks.

July 2016 was a warm, sunny and “dry, very dry month.” The average temperature last month was 73.0 degrees, according to Bill Gregway, local observer for the National Weather Service. However, he is quick to add that “it’s no biggie. We’re way down on the all-time warmest list of Julys.” Precipitation for July was a derisory 0.52-inch. Going back to 1844, July 2016 is the second driest on record.