Travis County Commissioners Court
February 5, 2008
Item 1
Let's get one more item of in we take the bids there. That is item number 1, consider an order concerning prohibiting burning in areas of Travis County.
>> good morning. Pete baldwin. We have submitted a new outdoor burning ban order for your consideration. The current one we are under expires tomorrow '. We give ourselves a little time in there. The bottom shrine the conditions have not changed. They've continued to deteriorate. We will be under another red flag warning this afternoon, which means humidity is below 25% and winds gusting between 15 and 25 miles per hour. We continue to see these dry cold fronts come in. We have not seen any improvement. The governor of the state of Texas has now requested presidential disaster declaration for 184 counties, which includes travis, due to extreme fire danger. With all those reasons in mind, it would be my recommendation that we go ahead and approve a new outdoor burning ban.
>> how long would that be if the court vote understand favor of this?
>> we normally run them about 30 days and we revisit them about every week in the event something happens.
>> and di ghiefort's -- and I did share with the court the governor's deck claire ration. We can -- declaration. For those watching what we need is sort of extended heavy rain more than a few drops here and a few drops here as we've sort of been getting.
>> yes, sir. We're getting a little bit of light rain this morning, but by the time the dry front moves through this afternoon, it will dry out ferg. What we need is an extended soaking rain. We're still in that scenario where all of our grasses are dead because of winter. Until we move into springtime and get what we call a green-up, meaning fresh green growth that slows fire spread, we have to be extremely cautious.
>> so the conditions are still extremely dangerous, especially with the winds.
>> yes, sir.
>> those fieshz can spread quick -- these fires can spread quickly, rapidly, get out of control and take days to get out.
>> and it taxes our fire departments to an extent that it's not good to have your personnel and equipment worn down at all points in time. It's not only a safety measure for the residents, but it's also a safety measure for our first responders.
>> okay. That is why I move that we follow staff's recommendation and approve another order that basically extends the prohibiting outdoor approximate burning in in-- outdoor burning in unnornted areas of Travis County. Discussion? All in favor that passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you, mr. Baldwin.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, February 6, 2008 8:09 PM