By BETH FOLEY

Anderson County commissioners voted unanimously Thursday morning to place the county under a 45-day burn ban, effective immediately through August 15.

The commissioners called a special meeting Thursday to decide upon the ban, due to the dangerously dry conditions around Anderson County.

Anderson County Emergency Management Coordinator Schelby Wells told the four commissioners that the county has a Keetch-Byram Drought Index of 500 to 600, indicating very high fuel load or vegetation able to burn quickly.

Precinct 1 commissioner Joe Chaffin, who presided over the meeting in the absence of Anderson County Judge Linda Bostick Ray, said he had watched people toss cigarette butts and beer cans from their vehicles as they drove past his house in the last few days. Even those could spark a grass fire in very dry conditions, Chaffin said.

Last weekend, a 25-acre grass fire required manpower from volunteer fire departments and the Texas Forest Service to control it, Wells said.

“Of the three (Texas Forest Service-owned) dozers here, only one was in working order and when they got it out there it was having issues,” Wells said.

With 137 other counties in Texas under burn bans including virtually everything south of Anderson County, the Forest Service resources are spread extremely thin, she said, which puts a strain not only on the TFS but also local firefighters.

“Aside from trying to prevent large-scale fires, (the ban) is also to protect our volunteer fire departments,” Wells said. “Last year, in one weekend five firemen had to be transported to the hospital. Due to the temperatures, the fuel load, the KBDI index and the stationing of our Texas Forest Service throughout the state, it’s just a wise move.”

The ban is set to expire on Aug. 15, unless commissioners vote to remove it sooner. It’s wording varies slightly from burn bans in previous years, cutting in half the number of days before the ban will expire.

According to the Long Term Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDI) on the National Weather Service home page, much of Texas, including East Texas, needs between 9 and 12 inches of rain to return to “near normal” levels.

Chaffin noted that the revised version offers more exemptions.

“Homeowners can burn their trash if they have a burn barrel or something they can burn it in,” Chaffin explained.

It also allows for fireworks, although if the fireworks start a fire, those persons responsible can be charged with violating the ban, said Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor.

“They can still pop ’em,” Taylor said Thursday afternoon. “It’s only if they start a fire with fireworks.”

With fireworks sales already going on, the commissioners could not legally ban their use, he explained.

“You have to give a 60 days notice before the sale of fireworks before you can ban them,” Taylor said.

Other exceptions include:

• welding;

• supervised controlled burns approved in advance by the Anderson County Office of Emergency Management and/or the fire chief of the volunteer fire department where the site is located;

• prescribed burns conducted by personnel of a federal or state agency, or by fire departments for training purposes;

• lawful burning permitted by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality rules;

• prescribed burning by a commercial or private prescribed burn manager certified by the Texas Department of Agriculture or by other individuals or entities exempted by Section 352.081 of the Local Government Code.

County residents with questions about how they may legally burn during the ban should call their local volunteer fire department or the county’s emergency management office at 903-723-7813. City and county offices will be closed Friday in observance of the Fourth of July.

————

Beth Foley may be contacted via e-mail at bfoley@palestineherald.com

————

On the Net:

National Weather Service Drought Information for North Texas, http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/?n=drought