Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, January 25, 2011,
Item 2
Item number 2, special item, consider and take appropriate action on an order concerning outdoor burning in the unincorporated areas of Travis County.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
there currently a burn ban in place and will not expire until February 9th.
my recommendation right now is leave that in place but I would like to give you information about why I recommend that.
our neighboring counties, two of our neighboring counties, Williamson and burnet, had burn bans, lifted those and over the week have had individual fires in excess of 80 acres.
and their drought indexes are very similar to ours.
my phone rings and people say I get stuck in my fields.
those are true facts.
the ground is wet, it is damp, but the dried cured fuels that are above the ground are not wet.
they are very dry.
and example of that is that every year portions of the florida everglades burn.
so those things are dried and cured above grade will remain that way for a while until we have a green-up.
the fire departments in unincorporated areas have responded to 17 fires in the last seven days for grass and brush fires.
that's with the burn ban in place.
so my recommendation at this time is to leave it in place but ask to you place it on next week's agenda.
there is a chance of rain over the upcoming weekend depending which forecaster you listen to.
some say it's significant.
but over the next four days there is a forecast for northerly low humidity winds, which make the conditions outdoors not very good for outdoor burning.
so my recommendation right now is to leave the burn ban in place.
>> talk to us about the kbdi.
>> the drought index currently in Travis County is 354.
>> way below 500.
>> way below 500.
>> that sounds good.
>> the moisture in the ground is excellent.
it's just that those dried cured fuels are -- above ground will burn very quickly.
>> for those who have listened to us focus on 500, what do we tell them when they -- when they point to the --
>> when the fuels are green and growing, typically when we come to you to start thinking about when the burn bans should be put into place, it is at an area around 500 because the fuels are still green and growing and capable of taking in any moisture that becomes available to those.
so while there's no set place where the court has to put a burn ban in place or to lift it, it's about 500 when we have had a long green growing season that we typically come to you with recommendations.
but at this point the dried fuels are just dry.
>> so by taking no action we leave in place the current ban.
>> basically.
>> and for those who inquire, we refer them to the fire marshal's office.
>> they can call me at 854-4621.
>> okay.
questions?
thank you very much.
see you next week.
>> thank you, sir.
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, January, 2011 2:19 PM
