ORDER N0.28995. IMPLEMENTATION OF BURN BAN. Came to be heard this the 24th day of January 2005 with a motion made by Commissioner Letz seconded by Commissioner Baldwin. The Court unanimously approved by a vote of 4-0-0 to implement the burn ban for 90 days on all precincts. And give all the Commissioners the authority to lift it at their discretion. ~c~ ~~ COMMISSIONERS' COURT AGENDA REOUEST PLEASE FURNISH ONE ORIGINAL AND NINE COPIES OF THIS REOUEST AND DOCUMENTS TO BE REVIEWED BY THE COURT. MADE BY: Jonathan Letz MEETING DATE: January 24, 2005 OFFICE: Commissioner, Pct. 3 TIME PREFERRED: SUBJECT: Consider and discuss implementation of the Burn Ban. EXECUTIVE SESSION REQUESTED: (PLEASE STATE REASON) NAME OF PERSON ADDRESSING THE COURT: Commissioner, Pct. 3 ESTIMATED LENGTH OF PRESENTATION: IF PERSONNEL MATTER -NAME OF EMPLOYEE: Time for submitting this request for Court to assure that the matter is posted in accordance with Title 5, Chapter 551 and 552, Government Code, is as follows: Meeting scheduled for Mondays: 5:00 P.M. previous Tuesday. THIS REQUEST RECENED BY: THIS REQUEST RECEIVED ON: All Agenda Requests will be screened by the County Judge's Office to determine if adequate information has been prepared for the Court's formal consideration and action at time of Court Meetings. Your cooperation will be appreciated and contribute towards you request being addressed at the earliest opportunity. See Agenda Request Rules Adopted by Commissioners' Court. Based on the current range conditions in Ken County, I believe it is appropriate to implement a county wide burn ban and allow individual commissioners the authority to suspend the bum ban in all or part of their precinct. As part of the burn band I recommend that the Commissioner's Court create a committee to approve individuals authorized to conduct agricultural prescribed burns during periods when the burn ban is in effect. I visited with Joe Franklin at the USDA /NRCS office and he supports this proposal. T'he policy implemented last year where the NRC5 office had to approve bum plans did not work efficiently and placed excess work on the NRCS office. I recommend committee be made up representatives from some or all of the following: Kerr County Commissioner ~'~ . ~ - USDA/NRCS =~~.. , .~.; ~_.. , ,_ County Extension Agent : ^, ~ ~ _ . _- ~ -- Texas Forest Service Volunteer Fire Departrnent Citizen knowledgeable in prescribed burning k ~,~ ~ ~ ^ -~ ,r , The committee would develop the criteria for approval and approve individuals qualified to conduct agricultural prescribed burns in Kerr County. Z~~9s STATE OF TEXAS § COUNTY OF KERR § ORDER RESTRICTING OUTDOOR BURNING WHEREAS the Commissioners Court of Kerr County finds that circumstances present in the unincorporated area of the county create a public safety hazazd that would be exacerbated by outdoor burning, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED by the Commissioners Court of Ken County that outdoor burning is banned in the unincorporated area of the county for 90 days from the date of adoption of this Order, unless the ban is terminated eazlier based on a determination by the Commissioners Court that the circumstances described above no longer exist. This Order is adopted pursuant to Local Government Code Section 352.081, and other applicable statutes. This Order does not prohibit outdoor burning activities (a) related to public health and safety that are authorized by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for (1) firefighter training; (2) public utility, natural gas pipeline or mining operations; (3) harvesting of agricultural crops or 4) prescribed burn plans approved by the Department of Agriculture; or (b) in enclosures such as trash barrels and charcoal grills which aze designed to contain all flames and embers. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that if the circumstances leading to this order are modified by transitory conditions, the Commissioners Court authorizes each Commissioner to suspend this order for a specified period in their precinct after consultation with the fire departments in their precinct. Such temporary suspension(s) of the ban may be terminated at any time before expiration of the specified period by the appropriate County Commissioner(s). In accordance with Local Government Code Section 352.081(h), a violation of this Order is a Class C nusdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to exceed $500.00 ADOPTED this 24~' day of January , 2005 by a vote of ~-~- ayes and Q_nays. --- - TINLEY, COUNTY JUDGE Attest: C TY CLERK _ 1.ncw rr ~.aui~.i \.+V1111VV11V11 a~~.v~wa i.).w.. ~......b............. ~~~.~~~~ / - "a- "- ~ I! Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) is an index used to determining forest fire potential. The drought index is based on a daily water balance, where a drought factor is balanced with precipitation and soil moisture (assumed to have a maximum storage capacity of 8-inches) and is expressed in hundredths of an inch of soil moisture depletion. The drought index ranges from 0 to 800, where a drought index of 0 represents no moisture depletion, and an index of 800 represents absolutely dry conditions. Presently, this index is derived from ground based estimates of temperature and precipitation derived from weather stations and interpolated manually by experts at the Texas Forest Service (TFS) for counties across the state. Researchers at Texas A£~M University are working with the TFS to derive this index from AVHRR satellite data and NEXRAD radar rainfall within a GIS. • More details on KBDI • View current interactive KBDI map View KBDI Maps Select a date from the calendar, check the boxes next to the maps you would like to display, and click "Submit". < January 2005 > Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 Keetch-Byram Droughtlndex Keetch-Byram Droughtlndex 14 Day Forecast Keetch-Byram Droughtlndex County Average r Keetch-Byram Drought Index County Average 14 Day Forecast r Keetch-Byram Drought Index Summary r Keetch-Byram Drought Index 14 Day Summary Forecast Submit http://webgis.tamu.edu/kbdi.aspx 1 /20/2005 ~nneCtion • Query Results weather ~exa5 K~~"1 +~ ° ' ~°~ 2Q0.3~Q ~ app ~ 400 .J ~'~~ r 540 ~.~ 5°° ~ goo ~! ~°0 ~ soo ROES. NEXRAa and ~}~tS pATA SpU 11242005 cieaGes iabQ~torv r~eatial 5 is.tamu.ed`~in`gdisplay .aspx hrtp:IJwebg Fage ~ of 3 ram ~rOU9ht index Keetch-BY o~5 ~ ~ ° ' e ~ ~xpcClnlCnt StTt10 ~'` ~3ricultur ,~, lC~•+~S ~(j ~,~1d Fti117 ~Y~ - MF LSAIAP~ ~~~ ~~ . exas .~'a mer .~rou.gz~: ,er-er .:r ..°~{. a~~~: 3~x1~~~9~1 t111r,„a,°iit~~'~'~~. "Ill~h~~~a~~~If,gi~~;~I Droughty Indices ~ PDSi [~~~~~a~Wgierl~t Explanation of PDSI PDSI is primarily an index of meteorologic drought, but it also takes into account hydrologic factors such as precipitation, evaporation, and soil moisture. _ ~ . ~.. S J .li I Ic Palmer Drought Severity Index by Texs~s climatic Divisions As a~ 11To~ezaber 13, X004 PI]SI Legend ~ ' - -4 or less (Extreme drought) - -4 to -3 {Serere drought) 0 -3 to -2 ~1VI oderate draught) Q -2 to -1 (Mild drought) 0 -1 to -D .5 (Incipientdry spell) -0.5 to ~.S (!Year normal) ~5 to 1 (InciplientRetspell) 1 to 2 (Slightly~et) _ 2 to 3 (ModeratelyWet) 3 to 4 (Very vret) 4 or more ~Extremely~eet) 8. pper Coast 1.89 Updated 11 J16l04 t Data Courtesy of Climate Prediction Center NCEP-NWS-NOAA Graphic Created b y T WD13 1Q . Lower galley 1.81 Drought Graphics not noted otherwise, are created by TWDB and questions concerning them can be directed to: Robert G. Bradley, Water Information Network, Network Optimization Unit at Robert.Bradley~txwin.net, (512) 936-0870. Data sources are noted on the images. http://www.txwin.net/Monitoring/MeteorologicaUDrought/pdsi.htm 1 /24/2005 exas -a.mer..rc,.t~,~. ,k-~{, .. _.r . -__ r ~. L. ~ L. Questions concerning TWDB Drought Response can be directed to John ::. ~ t{~~~, Offic~a of Planr•ling, VV'~~tt= .. Resources Planning, Conservation Section, (512 j 463- 7932. "'.,.~ ~;~f, <^~,,s~ ~~:~.:~: "~c:. (::~nl.~fc:t: ; by Drought Impacted Areas. I111I~E~'W1~~5 ~~~;''i'1d'1~~;1 ` ~~i'erSOnne~, please direct all inquiries to C~~- :I C>ativ<~, External Customer Relations, (512) 463-8176. This page was developed and is maintained by the 1-e~a~ ~~~atcr De~elolament [3uar~1, a proud cooperator in the Te~a~ water Infiarnr~tiun ~~ri~„rl. for The Governor's Division of Emergency Management - f)r~ni~ht Prelaarednes~ Cuuncil'~ Drought Monitoring TxWIN ~ Monitoring (Meteorological ~ .Drought ~ Indices I PDSI Last F.1c;ditied i)~'21~20n4 tF, 10 tt' Fix ,~restinn6. ~:nnunents nr p~n`~Izms truth this: ?age email us http://www.txwin.net/Monitoring/Meteorological/Drought/pdsi.htm 1 /24/2005