The forest fire danger level rating remains high in Connecticut, leading fire departments around the state to remind everyone that open burning is prohibited—even if you have a permit. It comes after multiple brush fires over the past few days.

“With the dry conditions and the weather, that is the perfect breeding ground for a fire,” said Fire Marshal James Vincent, with the Orange Fire Department. Crews from Orange saw that firsthand when they responded to a brush fire on Derby-Milford Road around 7:20 p.m. Monday.

“When the police department got there, the fire was now chasing up the hill and threatening a structure to which the police department evacuated the home,” Vincent explained.

Vincent said crews were able to work quickly and keep the flames from spreading to the house. He told News 12 it appears the fire began after someone tossed a cigarette.

“The location where this fire occurred—it’s very well known for accumulation of leaves, so just throwing that one cigarette into a pile of leaves is enough to give it a spark and let it take off in the wind,” Vincent stated, adding that there have been multiple brush fires at that spot over the past four or five years.

It was a different case in Bridgeport, where firefighters battled a large brush fire off Exeter Street Monday afternoon.

“We're really not accustomed to fight brush fires in Bridgeport. We're more of a structural fire department,” said Assistant Fire Chief Andrew Ellis.

The Bridgeport Fire Department called in help from Trumbull and Monroe and used some of their brush equipment to keep the damage limited to the woods and away from the nearby home. Ellis said the cause is under investigation.

“For the next few days, they're talking about high fire conditions, so I expect we'll be responding to a few of these throughout the city,” Ellis stated.

Crews in Litchfield were also called to a brush fire Monday after four burn piles got out of control, according to a post on the Litchfield Fire Department’s Facebook page.

With the state in a drought, fire officials are asking people to do their part to prevent a busy start to brush fire season.

“They can help us out by really being careful with their smoking materials. That's the number one cause for these fires,” Ellis said.

Vincent asked people to follow the rules, especially as they start to do their outdoor spring cleaning.

“We had a lot of bad storms that came through where trees and branches have come down. Now, everybody is getting out of their house, they're looking out at their yard, and they want to clean it up. Their first inclination is to take all that stuff, put it in a pile and light it on fire because either they don't have a truck to haul it to their transfer station, or they don't want to pay to have it hauled out, so they'll just burn it. That's a big no-no,” Vincent said. “If the fire danger rating is high or above or the air quality rating is above moderate, even if you have a permit, please don't burn. When the wind is over 10 mph, that's another indicator that you cannot burn so try and help us out.”

In Monroe, firefighters responded to two small unauthorized outdoor fires Sunday and Monday, including one that spread out of a burn barrel.

People can check the daily forest fire danger report online at the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s website.