(Seguin) — The lack of rain and dry conditions aren’t going unnoticed in Guadalupe County. The Guadalupe County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved the order prohibiting outdoor burning in the unincorporated areas of the county.
Bringing the request to the commissioners court was Patrick Pinder, the fire marshal and emergency management coordinator. Pinder says conditions are just too dangerous to allow further burning.
“Looking at the KBDI for the county, we are sitting at 615. Some of the numbers around us like Caldwell County is at 613. Comal is at 598. Bexar County is at 570. Gonzales is 624 and Wilson is at 587. Most of the counties around us already have a burn ban in place. Hays County is expected to do it this week. Comal County did it a couple of weeks ago so the numbers in the KBDI are there. Bexar County will be putting there’s on here shortly. I talked to their fire marshal yesterday so typically, we like to look at the KBDI when it’s in the mid 500’s just because the drought index at that point is at that point where we need to start assessing that and that’s why I bring that to the court. Kind of what the KBDI reference is for those who don’t know is just the drought index in the soil….”
“So, it’s just a measurement in the soil — how much moisture is there. So, when that level reaches a certain point, that’s when it’s rated from zero to 800. Some counties in the state of the Texas are in the 800s. Once it goes into effect, it will last for 90 days,” said Pinder.
Despite the order, Pinder says there are still allowances for burning with fire marshal approval.
“Those who wanted to burn during the burn ban, it also states in the order, that they can also contact the fire marshal’s office for special permits and privileges. Fire fighting training and things like that are still approved. Agriculture burns, those are approved on a case by case basis but we have to actually go out to the site and visit those and those applications can be accessed online through the fire marshal’s web page,” said Pinder.
Guadalupe County Judge Kyle Kutscher says he realizes burn bans are a sensitive issue. However, he believes the county is making the right decision at this time.
“It’s a real challenge when you have rain in the forecast because if we don’t take action and it doesn’t rain, we are another week with another probably 30-40-50 points on the KBDI Drought Index. If we put it on and it rains, the next day it’s like ‘why did you put it on?’ I think at this interval, it’s probably responsible and safer to put it on and hope that it does rain for the next few days and that that danger is gone and we can remove it – instead of waiting another week to see if we get substantial rain county wide, not just in isolated areas and then, we still have some real fire dangers that are unsafe,” said Pinder.
The order went into effect at 6 a.m. Wednesday. Pinder’s office can be reached by calling 830-303-8856. Non-emergency calls can also be made to the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office at 830-379-1224.