HAYS COUNTY EMERGENCY SERVICES
The Hays County Commissioners Court voted on Tuesday to let the county burn ban expire on March 10, with the ban to be reinstated on Monday, March 16.
Mike Jones, Hays County Emergency Services Director, who said he had consulted with fire chiefs throughout the county, recommended lifting the ban for the unincorporated areas of the county until March 16, when it would be reinstated.
Jones said on Tuesday that although recent rainfall levels for the past week have not reached the forecasted totals, “We do expect some moisture tomorrow.” Thunderstorms did indeed roll through Hays County just before dawn on Wednesday morning.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe voted for temporarily lifting the ban to allow Hays residents several days to burn what they have been accumulating during the current ban. “I think it’s great. I know there’s a lot of folks reaching out, and it will give them a short window of opportunity.”
“We have a chance to clean up our acreage and prevent future fires because of all of the debris sitting on the ground,” said Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra.
Outdoor burning requires residents to follow rules with respect to what kinds of materials may be burned. The county states on its website that the lifting of the burn ban “does not authorize burning of any material that is prohibited from being burned by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.”
Prohibited materials for burning include: construction waste, household garbage, tires, rubber or plastic products, heavy oils, fiberglass products, oil-based materials and those types of materials that have the potential to produce what the county considers excessive amounts of smoke.
Based on the most recent data from the Keetch-Byram Drought Index, which is used to determine forest fire potential in Hays County and Texas, the minimum rate observed in the county was 522, the maximum was 667, with an average of 610.
The KBDI is based on a daily water balance, “where a drought factor is balanced with precipitation and soil moisture,” which the index assumes as having a maximum storage capacity of 8inches, a statistic that is delineated in hundredths of an inch of soil moisture depletion.
This index uses a range of 0 to 800, where a drought index of 0 represents no moisture depletion, and an index of 800 represents absolutely dry conditions. The index is a measure from groundbased estimates of temperature and precipitation from weather stations and interpreted by experts at Texas A&M Forest Service.
According to Hays County, anyone starting a fire who then allows this fire to become out of control, damaging or destroying property of someone else, is guilty of a crime under the Texas Penal Code.
