• Special tracked vehicles were used to access a brush fire in the woods behind Schoolhouse road in Guilderland on Saturday. Officials across the state are warning that the dry conditions in the early spring can be the ingredients necessary to start brush fires. (Rick Karlin / Times Union) Photo: Karlin, Rick
Photo: Karlin, Rick
Image 1of/10

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 10
Special tracked vehicles were used to access a brush fire in the woods behind Schoolhouse road in Guilderland on Saturday. Officials across the state are warning that the dry conditions in the early spring can be the ingredients necessary to start brush fires. (Rick Karlin / Times Union) less
Special tracked vehicles were used to access a brush fire in the woods behind Schoolhouse road in Guilderland on Saturday. Officials across the state are warning that the dry conditions in the early spring can ... more
Photo: Karlin, Rick
Image 2 of 10
In this photo taken Monday, May 4, 2015, a helicopter dumps water on a brush fire behind houses along Cragsmoor Rd. in Cragsmoor, N.Y. The fire, which started just before noon on Sunday in the Town of Mamakating, has affected more than 1,700 acres of the Shawangunk Ridge State Forest. (Allyse Pulliam/Times Herald-Record via AP) ORG XMIT: NYMID202 less
In this photo taken Monday, May 4, 2015, a helicopter dumps water on a brush fire behind houses along Cragsmoor Rd. in Cragsmoor, N.Y. The fire, which started just before noon on Sunday in the Town of ... more
Photo: Allyse Pulliam
Image 3 of 10
Times Union Staff Photo by Skip Dickstein - A Rensselaer City Firefighter carries his broom from the brush fire in the area of the Port of Rensselaer which is actually in the Town of East Greenbush, New York April 19, 2006. less
Times Union Staff Photo by Skip Dickstein - A Rensselaer City Firefighter carries his broom from the brush fire in the area of the Port of Rensselaer which is actually in the Town of East Greenbush, New York ... more
Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN
Image 4 of 10
Times Union Staff Photo by Skip Dickstein - Two Rensselaer City Firefighters wet down a brush fire in the area of the Port of Rensselaer which is actually in the Town of East Greenbush, New York April 19, 2006.
Times Union Staff Photo by Skip Dickstein - Two Rensselaer City Firefighters wet down a brush fire in the area of the Port of Rensselaer which is actually in the Town of East Greenbush, New York April 19, 2006.
Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN
Image 5 of 10
Image 6 of 10
Buy photo
Firefighters respond to a brush fire near oil tankers in Albany at the rail yard by I-90 on Wednesday, March, 9, 2016, near the Colonie border in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Firefighters respond to a brush fire near oil tankers in Albany at the rail yard by I-90 on Wednesday, March, 9, 2016, near the Colonie border in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Photo: Will Waldron
Buy this photo
Image 7 of 10
Firefighters spent several hours Wednesday, April 20, 2016, fighting a brush fire made up of a large leaf pile at the Warren W. Fane, Inc. gravel pit. (Wynantskill Fire Department Facebook page) ORG XMIT: AtXZB309umFNcby05Sbs less
Firefighters spent several hours Wednesday, April 20, 2016, fighting a brush fire made up of a large leaf pile at the Warren W. Fane, Inc. gravel pit. (Wynantskill Fire Department Facebook page) ORG XMIT: ... more
Image 8 of 10
Firefighters spent several hours Wednesday, April 20, 2016, fighting a brush fire made up of a large leaf pile at the Warren W. Fane, Inc. gravel pit. (Wynantskill Fire Department Facebook page) ORG XMIT: btJl_z-W9F-aWdMN9r5V less
Firefighters spent several hours Wednesday, April 20, 2016, fighting a brush fire made up of a large leaf pile at the Warren W. Fane, Inc. gravel pit. (Wynantskill Fire Department Facebook page) ORG XMIT: ... more
Image 9 of 10
Firefighters battle a brush fire Saturday, April 15, 2017 in Selkirk near Route 396 and Creble Road. An elevated risk of brush fires for much of Eastern New York was issued by the National Weather Service Sunday, April 16, 2017. (Thomas Heffernan Sr./Special to the Times Union) less
Firefighters battle a brush fire Saturday, April 15, 2017 in Selkirk near Route 396 and Creble Road. An elevated risk of brush fires for much of Eastern New York was issued by the National Weather Service ... more
Image 10 of 10

ALBANY (AP) — A rash of brush fires upstate prompted state officials to warn people that sparks from burning yard waste can spread to the tinder-dry grasses and wood during the early spring.

Small wildfires have broken out across New York in the past week, and officials say residents should be beware of dry conditions as temperatures rise.

Fires struck on Long Island and upstate in Albany, Sullivan, Saratoga, and Warren counties, and firefighters in Cayuga County contained a brush fire in Fleming on Monday. The Auburn Citizen reports that blaze was caused by an older man burning debris.

The annual state ban on residential burning already is underway and runs through May 14. Open burning in some towns in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountain regions is prohibited year round.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation says the ban has cut the number of wildfires by almost 37 percent since it began nine years ago.