Though conditions across the county remain extremely dry, the Garvin County Board of Commissioners voted Monday to lift a countywide burn ban that has been in effect since Dec. 13.
The reprieve is intended to allow agricultural producers a window of opportunity to conduct controlled or prescribed burning of native grasses before they come out of dormancy.
County Commissioners Mike Gollihare, Gary Ayres and Randy Chandler stressed even though no burn ban is in place extreme fire danger conditions still exist across the county and unnecessary burning is strongly discouraged. The board asked that anyone planning to burn call the Garvin County Dispatch Center’s non-emergency line at 405-238-9900 before burning, so local fire crews and emergency responders can be notified.
The commissioners weighed their options carefully during Monday’s regular meeting before making the decision not to issue a new burn ban resolution to immediately replace the existing burn ban resolution which was set to expire. State statutes permit the board of county commissioners to issue burn bans in 14-day increments, renewing the resolution as often as needed while extreme fire danger conditions are present.
In his report to the board, Garvin County Emergency Manager Dave Johnson said seven of the county’s 12 fire chiefs were in favor of keeping the burn ban in place, while four others were willing to relax the ban.
“I recognize that we’ve got puddles and snowbanks and all that stuff, but the fuel is dry. The grass and the trees and everything are really dry,” Johnson said.
Commissioner Mike Gollihare said he had been contacted by citizens in his district who regularly practice controlled or prescribed burns on their pastures to improve the health of native grasses and to control weeds and scrub brush. The next two weeks are the prime time for them to do that before the grasses come out of winter dormancy and begin new spring growth. If the board issued another two-week ban, they may miss that window.
Gollihare said the agricultural producers he had talked to were experienced and had the proper equipment to prevent a prescribed burn from getting out of control.
“They do it right. They do a lot of preparations beforehand, a lot of back burns and a lot of preparedness so it won’t go wrong on their neighbors. I’m not worried about them. I’m worried about that other guy who goes out there and lights his brush pile and goes back in the house and watches the OU game and it’s already jumped the section line. That’s the ones I’m worried about, and that’s why I’m hesitant,” Gollihare said. “But I know these guys have a certain time and if it turns off 70-to-80-degree weather, that native grass is going to start coming out of dormancy and they’re going to be in trouble.”
The board discussed how to safely and uniformly accommodate prescribed burns under the current conditions without causing confusion for the general public, before finally voting unanimously to allow the burn ban to be lifted for at least a week.
The board will reassess the situation during their next regular meeting on March 7.
