The smoke and fire in Lake in the Hills this week was a prescribed burn. Flooding is next potential hazard.

On Monday, the National Weather Service warned residents that dry conditions and high winds this week put McHenry County at a high risk of grass fires.

Now, flooding on the Fox River could be next.

The fire hazard warning was not as dire by Wednesday, when residents called the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District to ask about a smoke plume seen from what turned out to be a prescribed burn.

“We have received multiple reports about a brush fire and/or large smoke plume” in Lake in the Hills, according to a post on the fire district’s Facebook page. The controlled burn was in the area of Pyott and Willow streets and was not a threat to public safety, district officials wrote. The burn was planned by the village of Lake in the Hills.

After two unplanned brush fires earlier this month, the National Weather Service had said the risks would diminish on Wednesday. But as winds kicked up again Thursday, another brush fire broke our near Harvard, scorching 14 acres and farm machinery.

With rain Thursday night and Friday in McHenry County, the next concern for the area is flooding, David King, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Romeoville office, said.

With warmer temperatures the past few days, the precipitation is coming as rain and not snow. Because the ground is still frozen and the Fox River is covered in ice, that means the water level could rise and ice jams could form, he said. Low-lying areas near rivers could see flooding, King said.

“It is still dry, but the winds are less substantial,” King said.

Those in the business of prescribed burns likely took advantage of the better conditions, King said.

According to a notice on the village of Lake in the Hills’s website last week, private contractor TGF Forestry and Fire had prescribed burns planned the week of Jan. 27, “depending on weather conditions.”

Those burns were planned for the Joseph Court detention area along Anderson Drive and Joseph Court, and Plote Field detention are along Willow Street and Grace Drive.

Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Chief John Knebl said in an email to the Northwest Herald that the battalion chief on duty “suggested that they pick another day to burn due to the winds and dry conditions.”

Tom Flader, one of the owners of TGF, based in Libertyville, explained that drier conditions, moderate temperatures and some wind made Wednesday a good day to carry out the prescribed burn. His team also monitors direction of the wind, which was blowing over an unoccupied area. The local police, fire and 911 center were all notified of the burn, as required by law, community was notified through signs and village online notices, Flader said.