Despite Nice Rain, Officials Remind Locals That County Burn Ban Remains
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Bill Fisher captured this stunning photo from on top of the bluff Saturday evening of a rainbow over La Grange at sunset.
Fayette County received some much needed rainfall over the weekend. About eighttenths of an inch fell in the La Grange area. However, the County remains in an extreme drought.
Ahead of the rain at last Thursday’s Commissioner Court meeting, County leaders welcomed the forecast. However, they wished to remind everyone that the burn ban remains in place.
“What makes it unique about this extreme drought, in my mind, is that usually when we talk about extreme dry droughts, it’s during the summer months,” said County Judge Dan Mueller. “This drought gets less noticed because it’s during the winter months, and it’s not extremely hot. But the old timers tell me this is about as dry as they’ve ever seen it.”
Fayette County Emergency Management Coordinator Angela Hahn reported that the Keetch-Byram Drought Index average for Fayette County last Thursday was at 581 on a scale of 0 to 800. It fell just slightly to 534 as of Sunday.
Pct. 4 Commissioner Drew Brossmann, who also serves as an assistant chief for the Schulenburg Volunteer Fire Department, spoke about the struggle firefighters face in these dry conditions.
“Whenever we go out in the rural areas and we have to fight big grass fires, we rely on the ponds to suck water out of, to fill the trucks up,” Brossmann said. “Now almost everybody’s pond is dry or it’s low enough to where you are not able to get your apparatus close enough to draft out of it. That means you have to haul water from town, from the hydrants. It takes a long time to get the water out there to fight these fires. It’s just extra stuff that you have to worry about that normally is never an issue.”
Chief Deputy Randy Noviskie of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office said 911 dispatchers took about 10 calls the previous Friday, Feb. 6, reporting out of control fires. He said deputies issued several citations for illegal burning.
“You’re right, this is as dry as I’ve ever seen it,” said Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom. “(The drought) of 2011 is on that always comes to mind. I have a pond showing an island that did not show an island in 2011. There’s many cows getting stuck in tanks. People are fencing tanks off because its a muddy mess.”