Flagler County to consider burn ban as drought conditions climb.
@DinahVP As drought conditions continue to climb across much of Florida, Flagler County is preparing to impose a burn ban.
When the County Commission meets Monday, they’ll be asked to approve a burn ban and a local state of emergency, county officials said Wednesday.
“We are proposing to initiate the ban as an abundance of caution due to the amount of fires occurring around the state,” Flagler County Fire Rescue Chief Don Petito said.
“Since January, there have been 1,775 fires around the state burning approximately 146,172 acres in the state of Florida.” A burn ban would prohibit the sale, use and discharge of fireworks, all open burning, throwing matches and cigarettes from car windows and the parking of cars and trucks with catalytic converters in areas where the grass is high.
The city of Deltona enacted a burn ban last week.
Our staff continues to work with partnering agencies to combat wildfires across the state, and we need an all-hands-on-deck approach to mitigate the dangers until conditions improve.” The burn ban prohibits open burning, including campfires, bonfires, trash burning and any other incineration on district property and applies to all visitors, including campers currently on property and those with permits for future dates.
Many counties have also enacted similar bans across Florida.
No significant rainfall is forecast over the next 10 days.
Federal officials say the wildfire risk will be elevated across Florida on Thursday, when winds should increase to 10 mph or more and humidity falls below 40 percent.