Travis County Commissioners Court
July 26, 2005
Item 3
3, rather is to consider and take appropriate action regarding the prohibition of outdoor burning in the unincorporated areas of Travis County. And there's our pete baldwin with a raincoat on.
>> I have grass again in my yard. That's always a good sign. It was a nice shade of beige when I got back from canada.
>> good morning, pete baldwin, Travis County emergency management coordinator.
>> good morning to you.
>> I passed out a couple of handouts that I printed off late yesterday afternoon. I want you to know that this recommendation has been kind of a difficult one to come by. All they we meet all of our parameters, that very first sheet shows all of the counties in the state of Texas which are currently under an outdoor burning ban. As of yesterday. The conditions across the state, we still continue to be in what the palmer drought index calls a mild drought. Locally we are still somewhere around four inches in rainfall deficit. The green-up that Commissioner Sonleitner was talking about, she was telling me the other day she had to mow her grass for the first time, is a result of some recent rains that we have had and that's what we call a green-up. And we get that green-up for a short period of time and without sustained rains that fine fuels for grasses die and we're right back into the scenario. The second sheet that I gave you is a blowup of the kbdi index broken down to a four kilometer rain. Each pixel represents about four kilometers. The color coding, the green shading, if you notice where Travis County is, the green shading, the kbdi is between the 400 and 500 range which puts it below our threshold which is 500. A very small portion in the northeast section. The yellow, which encompasses most of the county is 500 to 600. Then you see some of the orange spots which is the 600 to 700. I show you that to tell you that the rains have been spotty across the county. And as we polled all of the fire chiefs yesterday, we got a mixed result. We had three that said we think you should lift it because we're getting a green-up and we could buy ourselves a week to 10 days, maybe two weeks. Whereas we had five others that said we think it should stay in place. On top of all of this our long-range forecast, short-range is for rain tomorrow and Thursday. And the long-range, next week is back to triple digits and dry with being dominated by high pressure. I tell you that -- all that just to say that's why it's been a difficult decision. We don't want to get in the position as a government entity of crying wolf and saying it's bad, it's bad, it's bad, and yet we get rain the next day. However, long-term, we know that it's going to be back under that high pressure system and we're going to be back in that high fire danger category very quickly. Therefore with all that being said, after polling the fire departments and talking to it and looking at the forecast, it is my recommendation that we go ahead and sign a new outdoor burning ban for the next 30 days, remain on the agenda for each week for discussion, and in the event we get something in the gulf or get something that is significant and helps erase that deficit, then we can certainly pull it. I know it's been 30 days and we've had a little rain here and there, but as we've looked at some of the maps and everything, it's very spotty, and based upon our field reports, we feel like it's just prudent to keep the burn ban in place for another 30 days.
>> pete, tell me, when you have complaints about burn bans, tell us where that really comes from. I mean I guess there are people out there that really need to burn certain things, I mean -- is that their garbage? Because the average everyday person on the street I would think, if that's what you need to do to keep from having a fire start, well then why is it even difficult? Tell us, I mean, so the audience can hear and people listening on t.v. Why there is an issue for some people whenever we do this burn ban.
>> the primary issue is for those developers who are clearing land that are clearing brush and want to burn to dispose of it and it's the cheapest manner. However, depending on where they are, state law may impact them and say that you are supposed to use other disposal methods anyway. But that is where we run into or we get most of the concerns are we're clearing and this is stopping our development or it's going to cost us more. Actually the trash burning has declined significantly over the past five years. When we first started doing this 15, 20 years ago, it was not uncommon for that to be the biggest complaint is my trash is piling up, I need to burn it. But with the spreading of the private companies providing trash hauling services out in the county, we don't see many complaints of that. In fact, it was the fire chief from manor who told me, he said, actually we've gotten a little bit of a green-up, but he said we haven't had any complaints about it being in place. So to answer your question, our primary inquiries are from those developers and from people who are just clearing property on their own land wanting to get rid of it and burn it.
>> does anyone get a citation or I guess that's what happens to you if you are doing this when you are not supposed to do it and someone comes out of authority and says, hey, maybe you didn't know this, but, you know, we have a burn ban going here so you can't do that. I mean if they don't get -- they don't get a ticket or they don't get something that causes them to, you know, some sort of financial hardship, is that the infraction?
>> yes, sir, the sighization itself is a class c misdemeanor punishable by up to -- let me make sure I read this one -- class c punishable by up to a fine of $500. But our intent has been always, and we have tried to get this out to all law enforcement agencies, if they come up on someone who is burning or get a complaint and they roll through it, most of them are fire departments that make these first runs. If the person says we didn't know there was a ban, we just got rain, they put it out, there's no citation. The citation is there for those who are unwilling to cooperate with the spirit of the law.
>> they have every opportunity to comply. The first time there's not a financial hardship so that shouldn't be any big deal. I don't mind telling somebody that if they call and say hey, we came out and told you the first time there was no infraction, you weren't supposed to do it. If you insist on doing it, we'll get your attention. I understand.
>> so pete, what's the reading on the drought index?
>> our current reading is we're still in the 600's. We've about 625. What I’m saying is that even though we've had some rain and the green-up, under the parameters which we operate by, which we set 500 as our bench mark when we start looking at implementing these burn bans, we're well over 600 and that's a good average across the county even though we've got some spots that are greener.
>> so above 500 we see as danger.
>> we start seeing that as drought conditions and increased fire danger, yes, sir.
>> okay. Move approval with the continuation of the -- well, signing of a new burn ban order because the last one was in place 30 days and it expires tomorrow.
>> it expires actually at midnight tonight depending on how you read it. That's why if we get one in place today.
>> pete?
>> yes, sir.
>> let me ask you this before we take a vote on this. Do you know if the other adjacent counties -- I’m thinking about borderline areas, county jurisdictions, of course, we issue a continuation of a burn ban here in Travis County, but then there are adjacent counties that are in the same situation as we are as far as exceeding these indexes as you mentioned before, we are six-something, and I’m sure there are adjacent counties that are the same. Do you know if they are consistent because fire doesn't respect boundaries of county lines. I mean it just goes on over into the next county.
>> each county --
>> but each county --
>> I’m sorry. Go ahead. Excuse me.
>> what I was trying to say, is there any consistency in ensuring that burn bans are implemented in adjacent abutting counties? Or have we followed that to see that -- you know, I know each county has the authority to do it, but as a rule of thumb has there been any consistency in abutting counties to let us know that burn bans are consistent?
>> yes, sir. We all operate under the same state law that says that a drought needs to be declared by the Texas forest service. Under the guise of this kbdi, which is approximately 500.
>> what does that stand for?
>> keech byrum drought index. It's a good measure for summer and hot weather. It's not too good in the winter and we're looking at other options on that and we'll explain those at some other point at time. On the maps you see around, hays county pulled their office last week, but their comment to me when they said they were pulling it said we got a little rain, we know we're going to get a green-up, we're going to pull it two weeks and put it back on. It's independent. We spoke with judge guthrie, said we don't have one, they know have one. It dependent on each individual county whether or not they are seeing fires, the conditions their counties are in. Because you move on up into some of the counties out to our further northwest and they've had more rain. So they don't need one right now.
>> okay. Well, thank you for the explaining.
>> any more discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Thank you very much.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, July 27, 2005 7:49 AM