The details
James Altgelt, the Bastrop County emergency management coordinator, told Bastrop County Commissioners Court during a Dec. 22 meeting that a majority of the fire chiefs in Bastrop County were in favor of letting the burn ban expire.
“[Five of the six] said that if the burn ban was to expire [Dec. 23] at midnight, they would not have an issue with that,” he said during the meeting.
Some background
Bastrop County issued a disaster declaration Sept. 18, while an emergency order prohibiting outdoor burning—which Bastrop County Judge Gregory Klaus signed in an effort to mitigate public safety hazards posed by wildfires during dry conditions—had been in effect since Sept. 22.
Zooming in
All of Bastrop County was still experiencing severe drought conditions as of Nov. 16, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
“The latest drought map for conditions as of Dec. 9 shows a slight increase in drought area,” Mark Wentzel, a hydrologist with the Office of Water Science and Conservation, said in his latest Water Weekly report Dec. 15. “Compared to the previous week, drought degradation in West Texas was almost matched by improvements in the Panhandle and East and Central Texas.”
He added that November temperatures were an “anomaly.”
“With a temperature average of 62.2 degrees across the state, November 2025 was the hottest November in Texas in 131 years,” Wentzel said.
The outlook
The Bastrop County Commissioners Court could vote to reenact the burn ban at a future meeting if drought conditions worsen.
