Too dry to burn

Lower those torches, but don’t put them out. The beetle will still burn. Mother Nature just needs to give an assist.
For the first time in the history of the event, the main event of Burning Beetle Weekend—the actual torching of the beetle itself—was postponed last Saturday due to tinder-dry conditions caused by a lack of precipitation this winter.
Hank Fridell, organizer of the event since its inception, said he was in constant contact with the Custer Volunteer Fire Department—as he is every year leading up to the burning—said he received a call from deputy fire chief Matt Spring with the bad news.
“He said it didn’t have anything to do with the wind,” Fridell said. “It is just so dry right now. They are afraid of the fire danger. I agreed. We decided we would postpone it until we get some snow.”
In a letter to the Custer Area Arts Council, Spring said it would not be appropriate to ignite the beetle effigy, nor would it be appropriate to light the fireworks due to fire fuels being at a critical stage. Fire could start easily, and spread quickly. Just the previous evening the fire department had responded to a five-acre fire south of Custer.
Among other reasons cited by Spring in the letter are crews to support the fires this time of year are in short supply, and any ignitions will commit resources who wouldn’t be able to help with burning the beetle. Spring added multiple counties have burn bans, and did mention in the letter that two days of the extreme wind would be more likely to produce fire ignitions.
“We as a fire department know you find this disappointing, but in the essence of public safety the event cannot occur until conditions improve,” Spring wrote.
“These guys are looking out for us. We don’t want to chance it,” Fridell said. “We’re behind them. Let’s keep it safe.”
The rest of the activities scheduled for the weekend went on as scheduled, from the informational event to the variety show to the bug crawl.
And, Fridell said, the beetle will burn as soon as some snow flies. It will happen fast he said, but the public will be given as much notice as possible that the torch march and burn will commence as soon as conditions allow.
“We’re not going to be able to wait too long,” Fridell said of burning once snow flies. “We’ll do a torch march and burn the beetle. After that we will go down and have another bug crawl. So, two parties.”
For now, the beetle will continue to take up space in the shop it was built in, ready to be lit ablaze as soon as possible.
Fridell has no doubt people will show up as soon as the burn commences.
“The community shows up for us. It’s always fun,” he said. “It’s always a spectacle.”