Two wildfires earlier this month were all the reason area officials needed to institute a ban on open burning in Warren County.

At the time of the ban, there had been roughly 100 wildfires in Pennsylvania – including one in Glade Township that took two days to bring under control and another in Youngsville shortly after the Glade fire was extinguished.

What’s happened here is happening throughout the Northeast, including a fire near the New York-New Jersey border that has consumed nearly 7.5 miles of forest while putting hundreds of homes in harm’s way.

That’s why, even though the weather is turning colder and there has been a bit of additional precipitation, county commissioners are following state Forest Service and Allegheny National Forest officials’ recommendations to keep Warren County’s burn ban in effect through at least Dec. 4.

In our opinion, county officials did the right thing quickly enacting a burn ban in the wake of the fires in Glade and Youngsville, and it makes sense to be cautious by keeping the local burning ban for another couple of weeks.

Counties throughout the commonwealth are taking similar steps – but official action only means anything if we do our part and follow the ban.

One of our area’s greatest selling points is the Allegheny National Forest and the outdoor beauty and recreation it offers.

But the forest’s presence here also means responsibility on our part. The last thing anyone here wants is a wildfire that takes days to put out while putting firefighters’ lives and potentially your life and property at risk.

So let’s do what is prudent and hold off on open burning until precipitation picks up and these high winds die down.