Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, August 10, 2010,
Item 2
Number 2 consider and take appropriate action regarding the prohibition of outdoor burning in the unincorporated areas of travis county. This is on just to give us a quick briefing of circumstances that may force us to act next tuesday.
>> that's correct, judge.
>> okay. The -- the current burn ban is 3 -- the current kbdi is 390. Last week when i put this on the agenda i was expecting it to be higher. The prediction is that in the next seven to 14 days that we will reach the 500 benchmark, typically we have come to the court to consider that burn ban. The last time that -- that there was a burn ban, i -- for unincorporated travis county expired to september 15th in 2009, so we've made 47 weeks now without a burn ban. There are some things that i have talked to the chiefs, they are not experiencing any unusual number of grass fires at this time, but there are -- there are a few things that i would like to remind the public that if you choose to burn outdoors now, you are responsible for that fire until it goes completely out. Be sure and notify local fire departments, if you are going to burn. Burn only during the daylight hours, 8:00 to 5:00. Away from structures. You have to have some means to control the fire, if you choose to set a fire. Either a water or equipment, some means to control that. And you are responsible for that fire until it goes out. And remember to not burn any plastic, rubber, asphalt, oils, anything like that, anybody has any questions about outdoor burning or which fire department they need to contact, they can call my office at 854-4621. So at this time, i would -- i do not believe that it's kbdi is high enough for the court to consider that outdoor burn ban.
>> but unless we get a -- i guess fairly heavy rain between now and next tuesday, we probably will be forced to take action.
>> by next tuesday, we will be in the high 40s to next tuesday if it continues to --
>> do we want to wait two weeks or have it on next week.
>> i would recommend next week.
>> any other counties -- considering this at this time?
>> the --
>> it's a surrounding county, i don't want to go too far out. The drier counties right now are the counties to the east, bastrop county is about -- about almost 50 points ahead of us and the counties from bryan/college station back to the east are experiencing very dry conditions and so some of those are already having burn bans or considering burn bans. In our surrounding counties, we are -- we are fortunate in that we are a little -- have a little more moisture than our surrounding counties right now.
>> thank you.
>> we'll have it back on next week for a follow-up discussion.
>> yes, sir.
>>
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, August 10, 2010, 2010 1:30 PM
