Travis County Commissioners Court
December 13, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 1
Item 1 is consider and take appropriate action on an order concerning outdoor burning in the unincorporated areas of Travis County.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
our drought index is currently at 347, which only is up by five points from last week and that's probably due to the small amount of rain but the high humidity that we've been experiencing.
I reviewed a couple of call logs from the fire department, they are still receiving three to five calls per day and requests to have controlled burns at least in the eastern part of the county.
I spoke to the fire chiefs and they are comfortable in allowing people to continue to burn for another week with our current conditions, even if we do not get any additional rain.
currently there's -- it appears that the humidity is going to stay high for the next seven to ten days and there are some 20 and 30% chance of rain in those.
and when the humidity is high, the chance of a fire spreading is not very good.
so my recommendation to you today is take no action and leave the ability for people to burn in place now.
>> there were a couple of instances, there was a fire, talking to a person this past Sunday, in fact, that -- that had actually he told me he was doing a burn ban and some kind of way he started a fire and then I heard another person say that one situation where they left the presence of the fire.
in other words, just had walked away from it for a little bit and, of course, it kind of got out of control.
so I guess part of our conversation, I guess, got to stick around and keep an eye on things and go from there.
I understand there's been a couple of instances whereby persons have actually walked away from the controlled burn or walked away from it as they have been burping.
burning.
sometimes you just got to stay there with it.
>> you are correct, Commissioner.
if you are burning, you need to notify the local fire department.
they will create a log and at least know you are burning.
but you need a means to control the fire, the fire needs to be small enough to control it and a competent adult needs to stay with the fire at all times.
>> if the weather conditions look favorable for the high humidity and perhaps chance of rain, would you please elaborate in the event that the weather does come to the forecast and we see a significant drop in the humidity levels and high winds, the impact that would have on our current status here from a standpoint of potential for wildfire.
>> if the humidity drops and the wind increases, Travis County already has the process in place when there is no burn ban that Texas commission on environmental generally apply across the county and if there is a red flag day when low humidity and high winds are forecast, then a person would be told when they call the fire department, no, you can't burn on a day like that.
so the process is in place that if people are calling the fire department, they would be told no, you would not be allowed to burn on what's considered a red flag day.
and that's winds over 20 miles an hour, humidity less than 25%.
>> and how quickly can we get back to our severe drought conditions if the weather conditions change?
I know we have lots of dead cedar growth out there that the rain isn't going to bring back to life.
elaborate on that.
>> the dead cedar, it's never going to get any better until those needles fall as a result of weather and climate and are on the ground, that dead cedar will always be a hazard.
as far as when we would get back to a very hazardous condition, the freezes we've had are going to cure the grasses, the small fields above the ground, and a few days of dry north winds, probably in seven to ten days could be back to the point that very small fuels are dry and would burn very quickly.
>> thank you.
>> do we know whether residents in fact are contacting fire officials when they burn?
>> from the visits that the deputy fire marshals made out to the scenes, they only -- in almost three days of driving around, they only found three fires that were burning where people had not notified the fire department.
so I imagine that there are some that are burning, assume they can burn, and they are not notifying the local fire department.
>> but most people are.
>> most people are.
>> okay.
questions, comments?
so by taking no action, we basically allow burning.
>> that's correct.
>> hopefully under the prescribed conditions.
>> that's correct.
if anybody has any question, you don't know who to call, call the county fire marshal's office.
they will look up your address, see which emergency service district you are located in and be able to provide you with a phone number to call and notify the local fire department that you want to have a controlled burn.
>> okay.
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