A combination of low humidity levels and high temperatures spurred the Blanco County Commissioners to approve a burn ban at their meeting Tuesday.
The county-wide burn ban went into place at noon Tuesday and is in effect until noon on Aug. 12. Matt McMain, county fire marshal, told the commissioners that all three fire departments in the county were in support of the burn ban.
“We did get some rain, which was nice, but with a heat wave coming this week, things are drying out fast,” McMain said.
The expected hot weather this week, with temperatures close to or over 100 degrees for the rest of the week, coupled with the low humidity, makes conditions more than conducive for fires, he said. The humidity level is expected to be lower than 10 percent during parts of this week.
“When humidity dries out the moisture and grass that much, simple things like cars having blowouts and chains dragging from trailers will be enough to cause a grassfire,” McMain said. “We run that risk on its own. Hopefully with a burn ban, we take the risk of peoples’ burn piles not getting out of control, putting extra work (on the firefighters). Not only with the humidity being that low, but with the heat and the heat index being this high – we may break a record, probably this week – it also risks firefighters for heat exhaustion, heat stroke. This, hopefully, will reduce that risk.”
The county’s drought index has risen six points each of the past two days, McMain said, and added that he expects it to jump 10-15 points each of the next two days due to due low humidity levels.
The Keetch-Byram Drought Index listed Blanco County in the 400-500 range for Tuesday, which is the mid-point of the seven step scale. The county’s average was at 420, with the minimum point at 304 and the maximum point at 531.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 92.03 percent of Blanco County is listed in exceptionally drought, the highest of five steps on the monitor. The remainder of the county is listed in extreme drought, which is the fourth of five steps. The county has been at those levels since the March 18 drought monitor. The monitor is taken each Thursday.
The National Weather Service forecast for Blanco County has temperatures reaching 105 degrees Wednesday and in the upper 90s for the rest of the week. There is no chance of precipitation through Monday, according to the NWS.
