Hays County enacts burn ban

"As of this morning we're at 495 on the drought index. Usually we start looking at the burn ban around 575," Chambers said June 26. "Our 14-day outlook is going to put us at about 610 if we don't get any rain."

Counties use the Keetch-Byram Drought Index, the measure of an area's fire potential, to determine whether to enact or maintain a burn ban.

The index number is created in part by measuring the amount of moisture in the soil; the scale ranges from 0 to 800, with 800 being "absolutely dry conditions."

Chambers said June 26 that the county's fire chiefs had not reported any serious problems. There had been a couple of small grass fires that were quickly contained, he said.

"We're not really having any problems right now, although if we do start having problems, we can go to the judge, he can put it on an emergency order, and we can enact that right away and come back and ratify that through the court," he said. "That's the wishes of the fire chiefs, to make it through this July Fourth holiday and then, more than likely, come back to the court and ask that the ban be put back in place."

Cobb said the ban last year on burning and on the sales of fireworks cost fireworks vendors millions of dollars in lost sales.

"We would like to support that industry if we can. They've worked with us, and their cooperation was greatly appreciated last year," Cobb said June 26.

Cobb said that, according to the National Weather Service, the El Nio weather pattern is expected to persist and worsen.

"So the outlook for this part of United States is drought, continued," he said. "We need to ask our people to conserve water and use good common sense when they're burning."

In 2011, Hays County remained under a burn ban for 316 days. Information about outdoor burning, the drought index and fire safety is available on the county's website, www.co.hays.tx.us.