Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 2
Number 2, consider and take appropriate action on an order concerning outdoor burning in the unincorporated areas of Travis County.
>> hersceel lee.
Travis County's drought index is 617 which is continuing to rise.
there are now 211 counties in Texas that have burn bans.
and over the last eight days there have been 27 outdoor fires in Travis County.
and that's with the burn ban in place.
some of these are from hot work operations and discarding of cigarettes, discarding of coals.
people still try to burn trash.
but our recommendation is to leave the current burn ban in place.
it will not expire until may 4th if left in place.
but chief chapman has some information he wanted to provide to you this morning also.
>> good morning, Commissioners.
I am dan chapman, chief park ranger, and I would like to thank the fire marshal for letting me sit in on his agenda item.
we would like to let the court know we are planning to immaterial proceeds a stricter burn ban that we normally have in our parks even during the county-wide ban.
we're proposing to allow absolutely no burning whatsoever of any charcoal or charcoal items. Cooking will be allowed but only with gas stove.
we have had fire fires in our parks in the last two weeks.
easter day we had five fires and those do not include the oak hill fire.
on easter day we had three fires, two directly attributed to charcoal being distributed on the ground.
normally we allow charcoal giving under a typical burn ban but it's too dangerous right now.
the lcra yesterday released a public service announcement stating that they were effecting the same policy effective immediately.
that would include the seven parks that we manage for them on Lake Travis.
we would like to go along with that, but our burn ban will include all Travis County parks.
our park rules do allow this.
we talked with john hill yesterday at the county attorney's office and he said we would be fine with this.
we have some precedent in the past before when we've had burn bans, and in conjunction with a red flag warning meaning high winds, we have not allowed any type of burning whatsoever, even charcoal.
we've done this in is past but not on such a broad scale and for such a time limit.
>> I understand the urgency and I think it's something that really needs to happen, you know, like yesterday.
>> right.
well, it --
>> I guess my question is, though, how will we enforce it, not only enforce it but make sure the word gets out where folks really understand this is how severe and critical the state of affairs is dealing with fires and the burn ban, but extend to do the parks.
my question is how do we get this out to the public or someone out there is not going to get the word.
those are the ones I'm really worried about.
>> yes, sir.
and it's going to be difficult to let everybody know, but we are working through t.n.r.
to put out a public service announcement.
we are right now making signs to put up in all our parks informing the visiting public.
we're going to cover all our grills.
so hopefully they will come and ask park staff why are all the grills covered.
so among those three things, hopefully we'll get the word out.
>> okay.
that sounds good.
>> violation, removal from the park.
>> well, we'll first ask for compliance, which is generally what we do now.
we've been under a burn ban for so long, all the staff and the park rangers have been dealing with this for a while.
generally we ask with compliance.
if we have to go back a second time, which has only happened once, then we issue a citation.
>> what is the monetary significance of that citation?
>> it's a violation of the county's emergency order, a class c misdemeanor, and depending upon the judge, it could be up to $500.
>> up to $500.
and that's for violation of this.
again, once those things are installed, especially the covers over some of the -- the barbecue pits and things like that that are on parks, once they are covered, then, of course, they aren't to be used, but there may be instances -- again my point is going to go back to what I asked first, if that is the monitoring of what we do here today, how can we monitor to make sure it's policed properly and make sure that it is minimized, mitigate as much as this as we possibly can because this is a serious state of apairs with these fires.
>> we will have park staff at all our parks talking to visitors and trying to catch them when when they come in.
>> it's an education issue for the public.
no one out there in the public knowingly wants to see something happen again like what happened in oak hill area.
>> I hope not.
>> so it's an education thing.
and if we can either as our park rangers or deputy marshals visit with the public, tell them why you can't burn, explain these things to people, then the compliance is much better than enforcement, in my opinion.
if we can tell the people why we don't want to do this, they understand why we can't do that, then next year we won't have to tell them again.
now they understand when the burn ban is there.
and when you have an issue which in this case has already been shown to be a problem.
people will discard hot ashes thinking, well, you know, they are out.
but they are really lying there in a bed of ash waiting for the wind to remove the top layer and then the fire starts.
>> I would just like to comment once many years ago I watched the hot coals from a fire be buried with dirt on top and then a wind come up and actually the coals flame up through the dirt.
so it's not as easy as you think to protect against a fire -- a flame-up from coals that have even been buried.
am I incorrect?
I watched that actually happen.
>> fire can travel on the ground through resistance.
>> actually even cooking in your backyard you probably need not to do that right now?
>> our recommendation is not use any open flame devices where you are going to have to have something to discard after you get through.
the burn ban actually for the general public is that any fire has to be completely contained so it cannot get out.
but then if you go and open that barbecue pit and take these hot ashes, hot coals and throw them out, that technically would be a violation.
so the best idea is let's just wait until we get that soaking rain that we hope is coming.
>> even with gas grills, people don't think about the ash underneath their gas grills and the grease fires that sometimes occur.
and there was a fire yesterday off of spy glass, I understand.
I don't know whether that occurred because of backyard cooking, but we are definitely in danger.
we are in a tinderbox right now.
>> I have another question related to what could start fires because since the oak hill fire there's been a heightened awareness of dead trees close to homes and things like that.
and I've had questions in my own neighborhood in far western Travis County, is there a risk from using the lawn mower, using a chain saw right now to try to clear brush away that may be close to the house from the standpoint of a spark?
>> there is some risk with a lawn mower.
not so much with a chain saw because those mufflers, but where you have a piece of metal striking rock, you can make a shower of sparks with one pass with a lawn mower.
dragging chains down the road.
running a tire on a trailer with a flat.
any kind of hot metal may end up in the dry --
>> and cigarette butts.
>> and cigarette butts.
>> or the hot car pulled off on the side of the road in the grass.
>> the temperature of catalytic converters is well above the temperature need to do ignite grass the side of the road.
>> I guess the message is be careful with any kind of flame because that creates coals and we need to kind of hold off on that activity right now since we are in a real drought situation.
so no action today will keep our burn ban in place.
next Tuesday we will issue a new one?
>> next Tuesday I'm preparing an agenda item to come to you next Tuesday and if conditions still warrant, I'll bring you that.
>> thanks so much.
>> thank you.
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