A day after extending a pause on a long-running countywide burn ban, Polk County has repealed it completely.
“The rains we’ve had throughout the last couple of weeks has helped us a lot,” Polk County Fire Chief Shawn Smith said in a news release April 17. “We will continue to monitor conditions daily and will reinstate the burn ban if conditions worsen.”
As of April 17, the county’s Keetch-Byram Drought Index average was 386 with 93% of the county under 500. In recent years, the county hasn’t declared a burn ban until the countywide average is over 500.
The KBDI is a continuous reference scale, ranging from 0 to 800. It assesses the soil’s moisture content from no moisture deficiency (0) to maximum drought conditions (800).
The current burn ban was enacted in on Nov. 25 because of persistently low rainfall across the area for several months.
On April 9, the county suspended the ban until April 16. Then on April 16, it as suspended further until April 24. “We are looking at longer term solutions for either an extended suspension or complete repeal but that is something that will come at a later date,” Smith said in the previous announcement.
Despite the lift of the burn ban, the county urged anyone who sees a potentially dangerous burn to report it to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Non-Emergency Line at 863-298-6200 or 911 if life or property is in immediate danger.
The announcement comes as areas of North Florida brace for extreme wildfire conditions brought about by near-record heat, continuing drought conditions and a cold front later this weekend that could bring high winds.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk County repeals burn ban in effect since November
Reporting by Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
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