As expected, Comal County Commissioners Court reinstated the burn ban at 11 a.m. Saturday after a brief reprieve last week from Judge Sherman Krause.
Rain and drizzle helped to lift the county temporarily out of burn-ban status, with Krause rescinding the order for most of Thanksgiving week.
Expect the ban to be permanently lifted when the county’s Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) falls to 500. It was 523 Monday, according to Texas A&M.
Brush fires, campfires, burn barrels, fire pits (rings) or other open flames are not allowed at this time.
Only barbecue pits that are off the ground and have a lid to contain all sparks and flames can be used for cooking purposes only.
For more information, visit the Comal County Fire Marshal’s website.
KBDI is used to determine forest fire potential and is an index based on a daily water balance, where a drought factor is balanced with precipitation and soil moisture.
KBDI ranges from 0 to 800, where a drought index of 0 represents no moisture depletion and an index of 800 represents absolutely dry conditions.
This short-lived lifting of the burn ban was a big sloppy wet kiss from the Comal County Commissioner’s Court to developers. Developers have had pipes ready for months and were prepared for the lifting of the burn ban. I suspect the developers were notified of the temporary lifting of the burn ban. Few county residents were even aware of the temporarily lifting until the burning began, considering the fact that it rained most days of the burn ban lifting, few were prepared to burn. Instead of giving residents a full sunny dry week-end to burn, the Burn ban was reinstated Saturday morning.