The Potter County Commissioners’ Court met in a special meeting Tuesday morning, July 7 to consider extending a burn ban, which passed easily due to the weather conditions and after several fires were likely caused by fireworks and carelessness over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Potter County Fire Marshal Mary J. Willis requested that the ban be extended along with the disaster declaration issued by the county judge July 1.
She said that the county was already around five inches behind in average annual total rainfall for this time of year.
“According to the Drought Monitor, 88% of Potter County is in severe drought, the other 12% is already in extreme drought — that is the southeastern corner of Potter County,” she said. “The rain on July 5 did help drop us on the drought index (KBDI or Keech-Byram Drought Index) to 485, but we are still in severe drought conditions. We will be trending up towards the 600 mark.”
Willis said at that level, they hit extreme conditions, which with it goes along the chances for more intense wildfires to start.
To help protect not only citizens but our first responders and deputies, she asked Potter County Commissioners for another 90-day burn ban to be enacted until they are able to get relief for approximately 10 to 14 days, “to make sure that we do not repeat what we had this time by coming out of the burn ban and then immediately hitting the numbers to put us back into it.”
Potter County Commissioner John Coffee then asked exactly what the burn ban entailed, so citizens could be aware, noting there was a lot of confusion and calls after the July 1 disaster declaration.
Burn ban stipulations — fireworks not included
“Basically, the way we have the burn ban written, is that outdoor burning, open burning, trash pit burning and things we deal with that are hazardous to the community that have fire starts, those are things we’re trying to prohbit,” said Potter County Fire Chief Richard Lake. “The burning of outdoor trash, as long as it’s done in a metal container with a screen over it, and basically it’s a screen small enough to be an ember screen, is allowed. Cooking fires are allowed.”
On the national park Alibates National Flint Quarries, which part of is in Potter County, Lake said they will change their outdoor burning regulations according to the same drought indexes the county uses. “Sometimes they provide campfire rings and cooking grills, and other times it’s prohibited. So, we usually let them know what our burn ban status is, and they try to adapt it to the national park and outdoor recreation areas,” he said.
“The easy way to put it is outdoor trash burning is allowed and cooking fires are allowed,” Lake explained.
Commissioner John Coffee asked that Chief Lake address the issue of people having leftover fireworks and how to better regulate those illegally using them inside the city and county.
“This is one that has been a sore subject for a while,” Lake said. “Fireworks have absolutely nothing to do with a burn ban. Fireworks are an independent, regulated munition that is put off that has no restriction because of the county burn ban. You can ban certain sticks and fins, and under certain disaster declarations, you can prohibit the sale, but at no time can we say you can’t shoot fireworks.”
Lake said they can ban fireworks in designated areas that are private — a national park being one of them — and some outdoor recreation areas where they are not allowed by ordinance. “But if there’s no ordinance, then there’s no way to regulate it,” he said.
Private property and public roadways are illegal to shoot fireworks from without permission.
Lake said that they have a list of laws and codes they look to for how to enforce restrictions in certain areas, but as far as somebody buying a box of fireworks and hanging onto them until anytime of the year, they can take them out on their property and shoot the fireworks off, and fire officials have no recourse to do anything.
Coffee commented that he would hope that citizens take into consideration the dry conditions and refrain from shooting off any fireworks.
The 90-day burn ban and disaster extension was then unanimously passed.
How to stop noise and nuisance of fireworks inside city, county
“Everybody knows what the law is. Everyone knows you can’t pop them inside the city limits, but everyone does it anyway,” Potter County Judge Nancy Tanner said, asking, what can be done?
“The police can’t be everywhere,” Tanner said, “I mean, my neighborhood sounded like a war zone.”
Lake replied, “If you think about the magnitude of what we had going on Saturday night … we’re putting out fires and people are shooting fireworks at us because it’s entertainment for them.”
“These are not laws that we chose,” Lake said. “The only way people get laws changed is to contact their legislative members and get the ball rolling on some kind of legislation to do something about it.”
“We’re kind of just the messenger in this mess, and all we do is try to stop what has already happened,” he said.
“With the Willis Knight fire that we had, I am looking at other options, I’m looking at whether criminal mischief (charges) because … somebody recklessly destroyed a structure. We lost a structure, and it spread to another property,” Willis said. As fire marshal, she said she can prove the area of origin and what caused the fire, “but I have to put that (firework) into someone’s specific hand to prove their recklessness.”
That fire, which was among those that took place July 4, is still currently under investigation.
Tanner advised that if they found the person that did it, they should be put in jail, no matter how crowded it is.
The commissioners thanked the fire officials for all the work that they’ve been putting in to keep people and property safe and fight the fires over the holiday weekend.
Dangers of fireworks
Outside of the potential mishandling of fireworks causing harm to those using them, they can also impact citizens’ health indirectly by keeping them awake all night in some cases or triggering trauma responses. Not only do the loud popping fireworks sound like guns or ammunition, they terrify animals and people, especially those with PTSD or older folks dealing with dementia or other illnesses.
The big, colored fireworks are normally banned because it is easier for them to catch property on fire, but the firecrackers are just as dangerous. Sparklers — usually considered a safer form of fireworks — alone account for about 30% of firework-related injuries and burn at temperatures reach 2000 degrees Farenheit.
Fireworks can pose major hazards such as severe burns, hearing loss, permanent damage to the hands and eyes, and other injuries. Countless children and adults have been seriously injured or killed. They also can cause toxic air pollution and devastating fires, especially in arid climates such as ours.
Those who wish to contact their representatives about their concerns about fireworks can call:
Texas House District 87: Rep. Caroline Fairly (512) 463-0702
U.S. Congressional District 13: Rep. Ronny Jackson (202) 225-3706
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Burn ban approved in Potter County amid ongoing drought
Reporting by Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News | USA TODAY Network
