Flagler County enacted a burn ban effective 5 p.m. Friday (February 6) and declared a state of local emergency to do so. The ban remains in effect for seven days.
“The conditions have become favorable for rapid fire growth, so this action will help reduce our community’s risk,” said Flagler County Fire Rescue Chief Michael Tucker. “In addition to the ban on burning, remember that a good offense is the best defense. Clear the area around your house of anything that will go up in flames easily – including stacks of firewood, portable propane tanks, and dead, dry vegetation.”
The burn ban prohibits the following:
- Use, ignition, or discharge of fireworks, sparklers, flares, or other items containing any “explosive compound”
- Open burning, including campfires, fire pits, and similar containers
- Throwing matches, cigarettes, or other burning materials from vehicles
- Parking vehicles with catalytic converters in high grassy areas
However, the use of outdoor cookers, grills, and similarly purposed cooking equipment and structures are only allowed when continuously attended by an adult.
Flagler County is taking this action for a variety of reasons, including: Flagler County is currently experiencing severe drought conditions; the Keetch Byram Drought Index (KBDI) level is increasing daily; and, there is no significant rainfall forecast for the next seven days.
The rule of thumb for taking personal protective measures, accepted by a variety of fire prevention agencies, including the National Fire Protection Association, is that all flammable items within 30 feet of a structure should be removed. Homeowners should clear roofs, eaves, gutters, wood decks and patios of leaves, needles, and other debris.
JimboXYZ says
Wow, a whole week ? What is the “experts” target for a Keetch Byram Drought Index (KBDI) that would be trigger any drought ban for a number ? Any burn ban should be in effect until that index reaches a safe index rating to have the listed as banned activities & events allowed again ? There is no time limit on a weather pattern that creates higher probability(ies) for wildfires. A week seems like nothing more than a PR stunt to cover up the recent controlled burn that was out of control enough to force evacuations, that wasted resources, when someone on the payroll as qualified, educated & certified needed to be monitoring the index for the past few months. Are those data points in a database, that get collected & run thru a report that would generate a graph to see the index’s performance ? I mean they can do that for any stock openly traded for Wall Street. Every online Accuweather, Google weather internet site tracks forecast & actuals that way. AI modeling can’t be utilized to make this an automated task ? Just my understanding of how it works or ideally should work ? That could be done online for every City, County, State in the USA, as well as any location internationally. See, there was simply no reason for Volusia-Flagler wildfires, no reason for Gavin Newsom California wildfires. Even GW Bush had a index for terrorism a quarter century ago. Gotta be an employee in the Government somewhere that knock this project out, implement it taking their time at it over the next week(s) or month ? Remember, we could count Covid cases & deaths in virtual real time just 5-6 years ago. We can count the national voting for an election in real time as well, that is unless Biden is behind & then it takes 4 days to doctor those numbers.
JimboXYZ says
Kinda figured this was already being done by the Federal Government ? Is there any reasons for a controlled burn to happen, to become a wildfire for a fire drill to contain ? All this growth for a Vision of 2050 ? Has that agenda set forth another 25 years of the ruination of Flagler County’s eco-system ? What exactly is the state of Flagler County for the growth plan of overpopulation that it’s experienced throughout the Covid Biden-Harris era ? Like I said in the comments of the last article, nobody is going to be pleased with their home burning to the ground, not going to want to hear some political & criminal immunity for officials that simply overstepped common sense & compromised the resources for the environment to support an agenda of population targets for the sake of votes for a political career.
I’ve said it before, will say it again as the same position on this. If there is no money, no resources the Vision/Imagine of 2050 is not sustainable for the environment to grow Flagler County & Palm Coast to become Jacksonville’s newest extension of it’s Southside. St Augustine & St John’s County over the last 25-30 years is just a mess too. Anyone else notice that Flagler Beach has become a 25 & 35 mph zone from end to end, Matanzas Inlet (St Johns County)/Marineland to Highbridge in Volusia County ? There was a day when I did say that when the money ran dry that this area would experience a similar effect to what happen when the money ran out in Miami 2008-2009 for the Bush-Cheney => Obama-Biden bust. I also predicted Boston Whaler would pull out of Flagler County too. And that’s happening in another 3-4 months (2nd quarter) or so this very year. 300 jobs lost there. What a mess Alfinville has become.
https://www.drought.gov/data-maps-tools/keetch-byram-drought-index
Lee says
I went by the same area on US-1 on Saturday Feb 7th next to Prime Gas station and there was another fire going burning.
Looks like their cleaning property & continue to burn & pollute causing fires during this very dry time…
So this Fire Ban isn’t doing to much good😤
FedUp says
Stop complaining. We have “burn bans” every year.