YARMOUTH, Maine — This month there have already been more than 200 wildfires, according to the Maine Forest Service . That is the most fires Maine has seen in the month of August in at least 20 years.

Before this year, the most August wildfires recorded in Maine in the last two decades was around 100. The average number of wildfires in August is only around 40.

“So we’re seeing like double anything we’ve seen in the last 20 years,” Terri Teller, forest fire prevention specialist with the Maine Forest Service, told NEWS CENTER Maine.

This high number of fires is driven by drought. There hasn’t been much rain in the past several weeks, causing plants to dry out and more easily catch fire. Because of these conditions, the fire risk in most of Maine has been high or very high for over two

See Full Page