CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Brush fires across the Coastal Bend have been happening on a weekly basis. Nueces County commissioners voted to enact a burn ban Wednesday at their meeting.
This is a change the county’s fire marshal was hoping for.
“Our ESD, our city fire that go out and help these guys have been running ragged the last three weeks,” said Nueces County Fire Marshal Jose Olivares.
Olivares says area fire crews have been pleading with residents to stop burning especially since there isn’t a burn ban in place.
“I’ve been at some of the sites before and an amber will fly over from the existing fire and ten feet away now you’ve got another huge fire,” said Olivares.
Although a burn ban wouldn’t 100 percent prevent brush fires from happening Olivares says it will help.
“It’s just merely gonna give us an arm to enforce it,” said Olivares. “I totally understand that there’s folks out there that this is how they get rid of their trash you know please bring it into the landfill if you have any issues bringing it into the landfill call our office and we will assist with that.”
The ban means consequences will be put into place and some of those can get costly.
“Up to one thousand dollars,” said Olivares. “The consequence status come into court see the judge and the judge can impose the fines at that point.”
He adds that ratings play a large part in the duration of the ban. Fire officials use the Keetch-Byram Drought Index which can go from zero to eight hundred. When implementing a burn ban, fire officials will normally wait for the rating to be around 500 or above.
However, with dryness in the air and inconsistences with the weather, they're limiting the ban to 30 days for now.
"What's happening, it's, we're under, we're 437 today, but every other day, it seems like we're hitting above 500, then it drops down," Olivares said. "We'll stay in 400 for a few, a few days, and then it'll shoot back up to 500. So we have very inconsistent ratings there. And hence why we're implementing it only for 30 days."
With the climate the way it is, Olivares is asking residents to refrain from any outdoor burning whatsoever.
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