Published: April 22, 2009 01:18 pm      

Another week without burn ban

Pauls Valley — Make it two weeks in a row for no ban on outdoor burning in Garvin County.

It was a close vote by area fire chiefs in their recommendation, but in the end all three county commissioners decided earlier this week not to call for a ban that’s been around here more times than not since first being implemented last December.

As for this week, officials in the commissioners’ office in Pauls Valley said four chiefs surveyed wanted the ban. The chiefs saying yes came from the Elmore City, Katie, Pernell and Paoli areas.

Four others from undisclosed areas in the county didn’t believe a burn ban was necessary.

With that in mind neighboring counties were contacted about any burn bans there. The results of that survey appeared to play a big factor in the decision here.

“The rest of the counties around us don’t have it,” District 1 Commissioner Kenneth Holden said about the bans.

“So I don’t think we need it here either.”

For the second straight week District 3 Commissioner Johnny Mann, who also serves as Stratford’s volunteer fire chief, stressed the conditions outside didn’t actually meet the guidelines laid out by state law that allows commissioners to implement a burn ban in their respective counties.

“The rest of the criteria doesn’t support it right now,” Mann said, referring to the outdoor conditions that have in recent days included some rain.

Those guidelines from the Oklahoma Forestry Services only allow commissioners to implement a ban for seven days at a time.

To do that they must show there’s an “extreme fire danger” based on four specific parameters, which Mann said are currently not being met in this county.

Even though there’s no ban right now there are concerns, such as those by District 2 Commissioner Shon Richardson.

“I really hate putting it on and then taking it off,” Richardson said.

His reference is to recent weeks when the county trio called for a burn ban, while at other times, such as the past two weeks, voted not to have a ban.

“It makes it hard to let people know what’s going on,” he said.

That situation likely won’t change for now as it appears the group will continue looking at the burn ban issue on a weekly basis.

“We’ll look at it until the grass gets green,” Holden said.

“The pastures are greening up pretty good, but we need some running water out there,” he said, referring to ponds and streams. “There’s still a lot of dead grass.”

That dry grass is also a big concern for Mann.

“My nightmare is Longmire Lake,” Mann said. “It’s really grown up high out there and is a real danger if a fire ever catches.”