While the sunshine and low humidity of late winter and early spring provide many opportunities to enjoy being outside, for foresters this time of year signals the beginning of peak fire season.

Beginning today, the law prohibiting burning before 4 p.m. goes into effect. This springtime state regulation, which continues through April 30, is designed to prevent small fires from posing a large problem for foresters and the community at large.

“As pretty as low-humidity days are, they’re terrible days to burn,” said Nelson Jarvis, a technician with the Virginia Department of Forestry’s Gloucester office. Jarvis described that the burn law was put into place to limit burning at the times of day when conditions are best for fire spreading.

According to Jarvis and Senior Area Forester Ken Sterner, humidity levels and wind gusts are usually lowest during the day and higher at night, making the evening and sunset hours safer to burn.

“And there are times where ...