Travis County Commissioners Court
December 27, 2005
Item 3
3. Consider and take appropriate action regarding the prohibition of outdoor burning in the unincorporated areas of Travis County.
>> good morning, pete baldwin, emergency management coordinator. There's no action needed on this item at this time. I think that we have witnessed this weekend the number of fires that we have seen. Travis County now has moved into an extreme drought condition, which puts us also into an extreme high fire danger. Forecast is there's not much rain out there looking at coming in any time soon. So there would be no action on it. I think the only thing that I would follow up on that on is anybody who is listening or watching or anyone who calls into your offices is -- is urged, requested with extreme caution in any outdoor activities.
>> it's been hot, dry and windy. And it's forecast to be the same way in the future.
>> yes, sir.
>> this is not a good time to be outdoor burning. It's prohibited. We encourage compliance.
>> yes, sir.
>> and by taking no action today, the -- the order prohibiting outdoor burning basically remains in place.
>> remains in place. We also have the order to prohibits the sale and use of stick rockets and missiles with fins.
>> okay.
>> [indiscernible] part of the upgrading of fireworks have that been upgraded to not allow other fireworks other than the missiles? The rockets.
>> Commissioner, the only two items the law allows us to -- to prohibit are stick rockets and missiles with fins.
>> with fins.
>> that's the only two items the state law allows a county to prohibit the sale and use of.
>> because from what I understand, that there is -- it's suspect that -- that other fireworks have ignited -- as you know there have been a lot of fires throughout this area, in this central Texas area. Suspicious that others in those particular last two that allow the county to prohibit the sale of are probably suspect as far as starting some of these other fires. I don't know if that's -- that's what I’m hearing. I really don't know but I understand that there may be other involvement of other fireworks other than the -- those two that you mentioned.
>> yes, sir. There are numerous activities that can start fires, this time of the year. It just so happens that the legal sale and use of fireworks comes at a point in time when we are very dry and we are very -- the soil moisture is out, fuels are dried out. It's a very dangerous time. But other activities such as welding, burning trash, any activity that creates a spark or a flame has a potential of starting a fire. So we urge and request all residents to use extreme caution in their outdoor activities.
>> you know, I know the legislature is [inaudible - no mic] in terms of authority to counties. But this seems like this ought to be something we ought to continue to try to pursue in the state legislature in terms of the local option at counties to be able to do like cities can, that is to prohibit fireworks within the incorporated city limit. That's just a piece of paper. On one side of the line you can say no. On the other side we have not good all of our -- we have got all of our emergency service districts at complete risk every single time this comes up. It just doesn't make any sense that bottle rockets and fins and missiles are appropriately banned. And yet the sparkler things, which is what we are really always played with all in the -- at the unincorporated, it doesn't make any sense. Maybe local option is the way to go, to bracket it to the super large counties where it just doesn't make any difference in terms of [indiscernible]
>> just as an historical footnote Commissioner, there were numerous bills filed in the last legislative session to address this issue, none made it out of the committee.
>> I know. There's going to be some changes in leadership over at the state. A lot of long-time folks are leaving, perhaps that change in leadership will give us some opportunity.
>> [inaudible - no mic] as far as Travis County is concerned, how much assistance have we been able able to give other counties in this brush fire, grass fire scenario, have there been significant increases as far as assisting other counties outside of the area, is that something that we do just on an on and on jurisdiction or do we actually lend a helping hand.
>> we have mutual aid agreements with all the surrounding counties. When they have mutual aid we don't usually hear about in this it is our county in service, where we are mutual aiding other departments in county. All I can tell you is that knowing the number of fires that were reported over the weekend, you know, the thing that is -- they were very busy. So we are once again asking everybody to be very careful.
>> okay. Thank you.
>> good.
>> I couldn't agree more with the two colleague that's have spoken up about this. This is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever seen.
>> thank you.
>> to not have the local option.
>> right.
>> ability to do something, take something on. I mean people in this stated in that we do not need a california incident before we are ready and able to take action. I would think, I hope that -- that as far as our legislative agenda, talk with our lobbying group, I mean, I understand if you don't have a problem in -- in the county that you are in with dry and with the kind of fuels that some of the -- some of the counties have, but it is absolutely ridiculous that we would not have the ability to do that. I -- I will tell you that I will bet the time [indiscernible] the legislators, I would hope that we would put this on our legislative agenda to let people know that we are serious about it. It's time for us to weigh in. Because you are right, I mean, the foreseeable future, I don't know when we are going to get rain. But I would hope that we would do that.
>> or if they won't give it to counties, they can give it to the emergency service districts who are the ones that are responsible and also tax amenities and have to pay for putting all of these fires out.
>> we have a February deadline for the legislation we hope to offer in the next regular session.
>> okay.
>> so make a mental note of that.
>> all right.
>> will do.
>> yeah.
>> thank you.
>> no action is required on 3, though. So the prohibition of outdoor burning in the unincorporated areas remain in effects. Pete the city of Austin that has a ban in effect for the city of Austin, right if.
>> yes, the municipalities have the absolute ability to ban the sale and use of fireworks within their jurisdictions.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you, pete.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Wednesday, December 28, 2005 8:56 AM