Travis County Commissioners Court
August 5, 2008
Item 2
2. Consider and take appropriate action on an order prohibiting outdoor burning in the unincorporated areas of Travis County.
>> good morning, pete baldwin, Travis County emergency management coordinator. Our current outdoor burning ban will expire this week. We have submitted a new order for consideration and it would be our recommendation that that be implemented for the next 30 days with reviewing each week. Unfortunately, tropical storm edouard is not going to give us the kind of rain impact that we had intended -- for it to. Taken a little bit more of a northeast, northwestern track, north-northwestern track which will take it to the east. We will be on the dry side. We are hoping to get an inch of rain out of this. I think that it's going to be close if we can. So -- so that won't impact our field conditions at all that much. So our recommendation is from the fire marshal's office and emergency services is that we go ahead and implement a new outdoor burning ban for the next 30 days.
>> now, for those wondering exactly how much rain do we need to have this order lifted for some time, generally what's the answer?
>> well, since we have about an 8-inch deficit right now, if we could get three to four inches of rain spread out over a period of time in a soaking manner, that's what we're looking for. If we got two inches of rain all in 30 minutes or an hour that's not going to help our fuel conditions because it runs off, it doesn't give time for the larger fuels to absorb any moisture. That's really where we get in trouble with the fires when the larger fuels are so dry that they contribute to the intensity of the fire, takes so much time and effort and resources to control those. So what we're looking for, if we could get two to three inches of a good slow soaking rain, that's what we would be looking for that would probably drop or kbdi found far enough that we could consider lifting it.
>> it's so frustrating. Seems like there's a wall around Travis County.
>> there's a huge high pressure system sitting out to the west that's been dominating us. As anyone who knows who has been outside it's been brutal the last week.
>> yeah.
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> basically we renew the order prohibiting outdoor burning.
>> yes, sir.
>> any questions directed to the emergency services office of Travis County.
>> yes that.
>> that number again.
>> fire marshal's, 854-6472. Yeah, 6472. All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, August 5, 2008 3:51 PM