Llano County puts burn ban in place despite incoming rain
Llano County enacted a burn ban during the Commissioners Court’s regular meeting on Monday, Jan. 23. Rain is expected to fall on Monday night into Tuesday morning but would not be enough to douse the fire danger, the county said.
Commissioners unanimously voted for the ban after hearing county Emergency Management Coordinator Gilbert Bennett’s assessment of current fire risk conditions.
High winds, dry vegetation, and the lack of recent rainfall have created potentially dangerous conditions that warrant a burn ban, he told the Commissioners Court.
“We’ve had a couple of days of red flag warnings where the winds have got up to the 25- to 45-mile-an-hour range,” Bennett said.
The National Weather Service uses red flag warnings to indicate conditions such as high winds, low humidity, or high temperatures that could contribute to greater fire risk.
Fire chiefs for the Valley Spring and Kingsland volunteer departments supported the ban.
A half-inch to an inch of rain is expected early Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service, but Bennett said that would not be enough to push the county out of fire danger. Winds are also predicted to reach 40 mph on Tuesday evening.
Llano County hasn’t received more than 0.16 inch of rain over the past 30 days, according to the Lower Colorado River Authority’s Hydromet.
“You need to have eyes and watch your neighbors who aren’t aware that the burn ban is on,” Bennett told DailyTrib.com after the Commissioners Court meeting. “Just restrict your burning until we receive more rain.”
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!