Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, December 14, 2010,
Item 4
>> number 4 is consider and take appropriate action on order prohibiting outdoor burning in the unincorporated areas of Travis County.
>> good morning, judge and Commissioners, hershell lee.
as of yesterday our drought index was 518 on average for Travis County.
what this means to us is that our small fuels are very dry.
across the county, we range from about 480 to some 20 square miles in very eastern Travis County are in the 600 range with the highest reading about 649 currently.
our small fuels such as the limbs, leaves, straw, those type items with the last few breezes we've had have become cured and basically what we have now is standing cured hay, which are very susceptible to wildfires.
the northerly winds bring us lower humidity levels.
this allows for fires to spread very quickly.
in speaking with the emergency service district fire chiefs, they report that there are increasing numbers of grass fires.
an example was garfield fire over the weekend.
December 11th.
that particular fire was started by grinding slag, but it was able to be controlled within five acres t forecast is warmer than normal and drier than normal all the way through next spring.
currently Williamson county and burnet county, blanco county have burn bans.
caldwell and hays county have conditions very similar to ours.
bastrop county is much drier.
Texas forest service has listed Travis County in high and very high fire danger category and for these reasons I would recommend that Travis County institute an order prohibiting outdoor burning.
>> effective immediately?
>> effective immediately.
>> move approval.
>> I second.
>> discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, December 14, 2010 2:33 PM
