County burn ban lifted

The county-wide burn ban that was implemented on Monday, Oct. 23 at the Lavaca County Commissioners’ Court meeting lasted only one week with County Judge Keith Mudd issuing an executive order Wednesday, Nov. 1 to lift the ban.

Mudd said in a post on the Lavaca County website that they continue to advise all citizens of Lavaca County to exercise great caution with outdoor burning including:

1) Please notify the Sheriff’s Office at 361-798-2121 if you intend to have a controlled burn of brush piles or pastures. This prevents unwarranted fire/rescue response.

2) Please have safeguards in place before attempting any burning.

In addition, all Lavaca County Volunteer Fire Departments and Lavaca County Office of Emergency Management request that prior to starting any controlled burning (woodpiles, fields or large refuse piles), please call the Lavaca County Communications Center at 361-798-2121.

The communications center will ask you for the location and a contact number and by doing this you will help prevent the needless dispatching of volunteer fire departments and will also receive information if a Burn Ban or Red Flag Warning is in place.

Red Flag Warning

The website also described Red Flag Warnings saying a Red Flag Warning can be issued by the National Weather Service or the Lavaca County Office of Emergency Management.

A Red Flag Warning may be issued from the National Weather Service and is based on warm temperatures, very low humidities, and when stronger winds are expected, which together can produce an increased risk of fire danger.

The service Red Flag Warnings are issued with a specific time period and may or may not be re-issued.

The Lavaca County Office of Emergency Management may also issue a Red Flag Warning that will be based on the conditions from NWS as well as the local Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KDBI) numbers for the county, the amount of dead surface vegetation, the number of control burns that have gotten out of control where Volunteer Fire Department(s) intervention are needed and the number of fire departments that are involved in firefighting operations and forecast weather conditions.

Red Flag Warnings issued by Lavaca County OEM last for a 24 hour period and expire at 6:30 a.m. the following day.

Conditions are re-evaluated daily and the warning is allowed to expire or is reissued for the next 24 hour period.

Although a Red Flag Warning is not enforceable as a Burn Ban Order, county officials ask that compliance is voluntary and respectfully requested.