The Commerce Journal

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August 27, 2012

County burn ban to stay in place for now

Hill: Weekend rains add to West Nile threat

By BRAD KELLAR The Commerce Journal

COMMERCE — Some areas of Hunt County received significant rainfall from storms which crossed the North Texas region.

Even so, the ban on outdoor burning will remain in place for at least another week, according to Hunt County Director of Emergency Management Richard Hill.

“We have to wait until the next Commissioners Court meeting, even if it rained 10 inches,” Hill said.

The commissioners enacted the ban on Aug. 14, due to severe drought conditions in the area. The ban was to be in effect for 90 days, of until such time as the commissioners believed weather conditions had improved enough to lift the ban.

The next regular meeting of the Hunt County Commissioners Court is scheduled for next Tuesday, Aug. 28.

The National Weather Service reported that rainfall measurements from Saturday’s scattered storms in Hunt County ranged from .11 to .25 of an inch, although some residents reported they received far more than that.

The county’s drought numbers, even with the precipitation, remained fairly high Monday afternoon.

Guidelines call for instituting or maintaining a burn ban whenever a county’s average readings under the Keetch-Byram Drought Index reach 475 or higher.

The Keetch-Byram Drought Index measures soil moisture. A reading of 800 is the highest on the scale, meaning that it would take eight or more inches of rainfall to bring the soil to saturation.

As of Monday, the county’s readings under the index ranged from 369 to 728, with an countywide average of 559.

“We will definitely take a look at it Thursday,” Hill said, at which time he may make a decision as to whether to seek the lifting of the ban next Tuesday.

And, while the rains were definitely welcome, “they make the West Nile worse,” Hill said.

Multiple agencies across the county have joined forces to create a website, designed to provide information about the West Nile virus.

The City of Commerce Emergency Management staff has worked with Hunt County to create the site, www.westnile.info.

“We’re going to try to put everything we have on that website,” Hill said.

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