You’ve probably noticed, but it feels like a long time since we’ve had a good rain in Chambers County.

And if you’re wondering, last Friday’s rainstorm — if you can call 15 minutes of hard rain a storm — doesn’t really count. The National Weather Service in Birmingham posted a map on Wednesday afternoon, detailing how much rainfall each county in the state received in September.

According to the map, Chambers County received between a half inch and 1-inch of rain last month, which is actually more than most of the state.

Most of Alabama received between 0 to half an inch of rainfall, and several areas had no measurable rainfall.

The lack of rain means we’re in widespread drought conditions in Alabama.

A ban has been issued by the Lanett Fire Department, banning all outside burning, and other local agencies are not issuing burn permits right now.

It’s a needed precaution to limit outside burning right now, given the dry conditions. The Alabama Forestry Commission has issued a fire alert for the state, which means there are an abnormal number of wildfires, several unusually large wildfires in an area or severe smoke is causing air quality degradation.

It’s important to follow these guidelines until the alert is lifted. All it takes is one ember to start a wildfire, putting lives in danger.