Staff Reports
A disaster emergency proclamation calling for a complete burn ban has been issued for all of Bartholomew County.
The county commissioners made the declaration in regard to ongoing drought conditions, according to Bartholomew County Emergency Management Director Shannan Hinton.
Effective immediately, all county residents are prohibited from engaging in the following activities until further notice:
Building campfires or other recreational fires
Engaging in open burning of any kind using wood or other combustible matter, with the exception of grills fueled by charcoal or propane
Burning debris, such as timber or vegetation including debris that comes from building construction
Utilizing burn barrels for any open burning at residences is also banned
Hinton says burning charcoal in permitted grills should not be removed until the fire has been thoroughly extinguished. She is also strongly urging residents to limit their use of fireworks to those that do not leave the ground.
The ban was instituted after a field fire was reported Wednesday near Elizabethtown, said commissioners Chairman Carl Lienhoop. If some of the neighboring farmers had not disked their crop residue in the fields, the fire would have likely spread to multiple homes along Legal Tender Road, Lienhoop said.
“Hopefully, this will be short-lived,” Lienhoop said. “The weather forecast calls for a chance of rain each day next week. But another day like Wednesday could really have resulted in a catastrophe.
Lienhoop, who is a farmer himself, says Bartholomew County has not received a good rain since mid-August. Over the past two months, the cumulative amount of rainfall hasn’t been any more than a half inch of precipitation.
“Right now, the top of everything is dry, so consequently, things are kind of a timber box right now,” he said.
While the situation is dangerous, Lienhoop says it isn’t unusual for this time of year.
“September and October are usually our driest months of the year, so this is holding up that reputation,” he said.
