Travis County Commissioners Court
June 23, 2009,
Item 2
>> number 2 consider and take appropriate action regarding outdoor burning in the unincorporated areas of Travis County.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
herschel lee, Travis County fire marshal's office,.
>> pete baldwin,.
>> this is the first time that we've talked to you about this issue since April the 22nd of this year.
we are back because the benchmark was around 500.
the Travis County index is currently at 532, we are increasing at a right of about nine to 10 points per day.
five of our contiguous counties are already under burn bans, others are considering those.
i have polled the fire chiefs from the local esd's yesterday, the majority of those are in favor of imposing a burn ban.
a number of them are reporting an increase number in roadside fires.
some have had control burns get out of control.
so at this point, knowing in the short term and long term forecast, there's no rainfall, none of significance.
we are recommending that -- that Travis County adopt a ban on that outdoor burning.
>> and for those who want to know what they can or cannot do, if they call the fire marshal's office, emergency management, or any member of the Travis County Commissioners court, basically you are not supposed to burn outside unless you have special covered containers.
>> that's correct.
anything that -- if any burning is to be done or is to be allowed, it must contain all of the sparks and embers.
but before they consider that, we recommend that they call us and we will put them in contact with their local fire department prior to burning.
questions?
move that we follow staff's recommendation and impose and adopt an outdoor burn ban.
>> second.
>> we will authorize the county judge to sign on behalf of the Commissioner court.
>> yes, sir.
>> discussion of the motion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> judge?
>> what about fireworks since July 4th is around the corner.
>> yes, sir.
yesterday morning I received a call from chester Davis, who is the president of Texas pyrotechnic association, he told me he had been in contact with all of the retail vendors in Travis County, and that they were going to voluntarily remove all of those items from the stands that would normally be considered restricted fireworks.
we are -- our kbdi was not high enough to come to you and request an order restricting fireworks sales, but Texas pyro technic association has offered to voluntarily remove those items from the stands so they will not be available for the public to purchase in Travis County.
>> do we need a motion to accept their offer?
>> it -- I believe this is strictly voluntarily on their part.
>> this is very reminiscent of last year when they realized conditions were very dry and hot and so they voluntarily pulled those.
they have the right to pull whatever they want from their stands.
but this is their offer to help negate some of this drought because if you -- if you haven't noticed not only the kbdi rising, but we have now moved back into that exceptional drought category.
there for a while when we were getting those early rains we moved down to extraordinary.
now we are back up into the exceptional category.
so -- so long-term, most of the meteorologists we talk with say we will get some rain.
but they are not expecting the situation to really change until fall.
so -- so we're in it for the long haul.
>> we can certainly appreciate their voluntarily action.
>> I think there ought to be something in writing to thank them and tell them we accept their offer.
>> I think we should do that.
>> the fire marshal --
>> I can do it.
>> okay.
>> I have a question about the voluntary nature of it.
does that mean each individual fireworks operator stand it's their voluntary decision not to pull off of it or is it a state-wide mandate.
>> it's not a state-wide mandate.
this is something that in mr.
davis' words he was doing for Travis County.
there may be some areas where this -- some counties in Texas where this would not apply.
there are I believe only two what we consider independent retailers that go and purchase at wholesale and then sell on their own.
but in the past when mr.
davis has contacted these individuals, they have agreed along with the larger wholesale vendors to remove those items from those stands as well.
>> is there any consequence to an association member failing to -- to take these products off of the shelves?
>> none that I'm aware of, ma'am.
if that did happen, it would strictly be within their association guidelines.
i did not ask mr.
davis that question.
>> with wonderful thing that mr.
davis is asking, it's a great thing that he's asking.
just for public information purposes, can you give us an idea of the types of things that would be pulled off the fireworks stand.
>> the items that are normally restricted by order are rockets with sticks and missiles with fins.
these are fireworks that by design will travel a great distance away from the middle using that firework and thus sometimes allow a fire -- a spot fire to start far away from the user.
>> are they acting off the same volunteer aspects of this to -- in adjacent counties, five county region, I think we're basically all experiencing super drought conditions, since we are, I am wondering if they have made the same volunteer offer to pull these items off the shelf in adjacent counties?
the reason I ask that Austin committee because if you can't get them in Travis County, those particular items, rockets with fins, all of these other kind of things, that does not mean that they can't go over into bastrop county or Williamson county, caldwell, other counties surrounding us, hays, to buy these same items that they could not get in Travis County.
>> that's correct.
and giant, Commissioner.
in that -- good point, Commissioner.
since we do not have the order in place, the use of those fireworks is not restricted by court order at this time.
i -- I neglected to ask mr.
davis if that was their policy in adjoining counties.
but I'll call him today and ask --
>> would you follow up and see if he has that same policy with adjacent counties wins since --
>> yes, I will do that and get that information back to you ladies and gentlemen today.
>> that would be fine.
>> judge, excuse me.
would you like for one of our offices to prepare something for your signature or would you like for that to come out from under the fire marshal's.
>> this is not quite posted, but I think we ought to request the fire marshal's to send an appropriate letter of acceptance and appreciation to mr.
davis.
>> okay.
>> mayor leffingwell: under what circumstances can a county restrict the use of rockets with fins and sticks?
>> the -- the kbdi has to be above 575, the Commissioners court has to take the action prior to June 15th, or December 15th, of the fireworks selling season.
if we -- we did consider this, but we would have had to have prepared that on June 2nd to get to you on June 9th to ask for that order, at that time we were wavering between 430 and 450 on the drought index.
>> one can see the deficiency in the statute in our ability to protect the residents of Travis County from fireworks instigated wildfire in a drought condition like this.
i really appreciate mr.
davis' voluntary call.
i wish the legislation offered giving us the ability to respond appropriately had passed.
>> thank you very much.
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:
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 1:31 PM