(Seguin) – An order for an outdoor burn ban is officially in place for the unincorporated areas of Guadalupe County. The Guadalupe County Commissioners Court on Tuesday unanimously voted to implement the burn ban.
Proposing the item to the court was Patrick Pinder, Guadalupe County emergency management coordinator and fire marshal. Pinder says things are just too dangerous to allow continued burning.
“Currently looking at the KBDI (Keetch-Byram Drought Index) in Guadalupe County, we are at 637. The last time, I brought this to the court, we were at about the mid-500s so we had a significant increase since the last time I came to the court. Looking at some of the counties around us, Bexar is at 587, Caldwell is at 641, Comal is at 647, Hays is at 619, Gonzales is 626 and Wilson is 613. Out of those counties, four of them are in a burn ban,” said Pinder.
Despite some isolated storms forecasted for this weekend, Pinder says he doesn’t believe they will be enough to bring some relief to the area.
“So, we have seen a lot of illegal burns right now. We are seeing a significant increase in grassfires. Actually, one of the homes, Commissioner, over the weekend was started from a burn barrel outside and spread to their home and burned their home down but we are seeing that the burns that are unattended burns – the ground is just dry. We have seen a couple of roadside fires up on the Interstate but that is the common denominator currently. People are just burning because they have brush. With the burn ban, this does not limit agriculture burns. I spoke to Commissioner Germann today about a person in his precinct that is doing some land clearing and things like that – just anybody that will want to burn needs to submit a permit. You can burn in a burn barrel with a cover. That is an approved source through here. You don’t have to get a permit for that but if your burn barrel does cause a fire or spreads, you will be cited for that. So, that’s reckless,” said Pinder.
The burn ban which is now in effect will continue through Dec. 31.
Those having questions about the order are asked to contact the Guadalupe County Emergency Management office at 830-303-8856.