Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, August 17, 2010,
Item 2
2, consider and take appropriate action regarding the prohibition of outdoor burning in the unincorporated areas of travis county. We did get some rain yesterday, but only in parts of travis county, right?
>> that's correct, judge, commissioner. Her shell lee. Yesterday the mean was 486, which is very near that area where we want to start considering a burn ban. That was taken into consideration the half inch of rain that central travis county got last week and then yesterday afternoon that rain has not yet shown up in our drought index numbers. So very -- the periphery of travis county, southwest travis county and northeast travis county are in the 500 and 600 range. But the mean is down in the 400s still. And talking to the fire chiefs, they are not seeing any significant number of grass fires on the road or fires that get out of control where citizens are burning legally. So one of the things that the small rains help us with is if the relative humidity remains high which prohibits small fuels from igniting very easily. So at this point it does not appear that there is a need for a burn ban in travis county. The -- all of our adjoining counties are still -- they still have not instituted a burn ban, although it has been on their agenda since the last time i was here over the statewide, the number of counties with burn bans has increased from 35 to 44. There are currently 44 counties in texas with burn bans. But the low pressure area that we expect to move across the coast may give us a little more rain so at this point while we don't think it is necessary to have a burn ban, we still want to caution the citizens to be careful and remember that you are responsible for any fire that you start until that fire goes out.
>> does that mean that -- i was looking through your earlier comments and
>> [indiscernible] and the exceeding drought indicators exceed 500 in southeast travis county and also in northeast portion of travis county. Does that have to be consistent throughout -- in other words, 500 throughout all of travis county before you declare that we need to issue the necessary to invoke a burn ban?
>> well, the 500 number is basically an arbitrary number when we start bringing that issue up and to bring it before the citizens before the commissioners court to start considering that. But that number is just for a mean. And while there are actually about 8 square miles in travis county now with a drought index in the 200s. So the mean is an average that's taken while we have areas in far northeast travis county and southwest travis county that are to the point where people probably should not be burning. The mean across the county is still in an area where burning could be done safely but it has to be watched very closely.
>> so in southwest and northeast travis county is where you are suggesting that people have to be kind of --
>> it would be better if people did not burn in those areas unless it is just absolutely necessary.
>> okay. Because how far out does it extend eastward i guess as far as the drought-type conditions east of travis county?
>> while travis county's index was 486, bastrop county was 550. And lee county has some areas in the 700 range already.
>> goodness gracious.
>> so we are kind of in between the very dry areas. There are counties to the east of us and counties to the west of us that have already instituted burn bans or very near that. So we have been fortunate in the small rains that we have received and the high relative humidity that has allowed us to not have to go to that point.
>> thank you.
>> so the request today is that we delay action but have this on the court's agenda next week in the event we need it.
>> yes, sir.
>> okay. Any objection to that? Then we'll just have it postponed until -- that's august 24th? Thank you very much.
>> thank you.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, August 17, 2010, 2010 2:30 PM
