Fire officials welcomed Sunday's forecast for heavy rain, while keeping a wary eye on flood-prone regions of the state.

A recent stretch of dry weather days has caused state fire danger levels to rise steadily and have helped fuel a series of brush fires across New Hampshire over the last week.

The heavy rains overnight, which are forecast to last into mid-afternoon today, have some fire officials breathing a sigh of relief.

“It's definitely a help, a big help,” said Manchester District Fire Chief Mark Pelletier.

“The rain we received Sunday afternoon has already helped. The fire danger level has dropped from a Class 4 just a few days ago all the way down to a Class 1 today, so that's a huge drop.”

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch Sunday afternoon for southern New Hampshire, in effect through this morning.

The forecast calls for between 2 and 4 inches of rain before skies partly clear this afternoon.

The weather service said the areas that could see the heaviest rains are those located along the east slopes of higher terrain.

Flooding of poor drainage and urban areas was expected, along with possible small stream flooding.

Most larger river ways were expected to remain below flood stage.

A flood watch is issued when there is a potential for flooding based on current forecasts. Those living in flood-prone areas should monitor forecasts for updates and be prepared to take action if flooding develops.

Pelletier said that while the rainfall helps alleviate the current fire level threat, it is still too early to tell how long the effects of the rain will last.

“We have to see how much we get, and what happens next,” said Pelletier.

“The threat level goes down, but if a lot of wind moves in behind the storm, it can help dry things out again pretty quickly. We just have to wait and see.”

Pelletier said that as of Sunday evening, his department had not received any calls from residents to pump out flooded basements in homes or buildings.

“We're ready if we do get those calls,” said Pelletier. “We're keeping an eye on areas where we've had trouble in the past, like Goldfish Pond and Dorrs Pond, but the last time we checked, those spots didn't seem to be in any danger of flooding.”