Six county judges in Arkansas issued burn bans Thursday, bringing to 32 the number of counties that prohibit open burning because of weather conditions and fire danger.
As a result of the bans, Arkansas Forestry Commission spokesman Adriane Barnes said, wildfires have abated, although the state is still experiencing low humidity and windy conditions - elements that help spread fires.
“Our conditions today are not a whole lot different than they’ve been this week, but we’ve not had as many fires,” she said. “People aren’t burning.”
The commission reported that 11 acres burned Thursday. One acre burned in the extreme southeast corner of the state, and fire destroyed 10 acres of grassland in Northwest Arkansas.
County judges in Baxter, Carroll, Lonoke, Marion, Prairie and Randolph counties issued bans Thursday.
Others with bans are Benton, Boone, Clark, Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Franklin, Fulton, Garland, Howard, Independence, Jefferson, Johnson, Lawrence, Lincoln, Logan, Perry, Pike, Pulaski, Saline, Searcy, Sharp, Stone, Van Buren, Washington and White counties.
County officials generally call for burn bans if winds are 10 to 20 mph and humidity levels are between 20 and 40 percent.
A series of cold air masses have produced gusty winds and frigid, dry weather conditions in the state since Saturday.Winds are expected to reach 15 to 20 mph in much of the state today, National Weather Service meteorologists said.
“It’s hard for our volunteer fire departments to catch a fire once it gets into the grass and woods with 30-mile-an-hour winds,” said Ray Wakefield, the Forestry Commission’s District 6 forester who oversees 14 counties in Northwest Arkansas.
“It’s slowing down some. Maybe it’s because of the burn bans, but the weekend is coming and everybody will want to get out and burn [debris and brush].”
Despite being surrounded by counties that have all issued burn bans, Izard County Judge David Sherrell said he probably won’t call for a ban.
“We don’t hardly ever participate in bans,” Sherrell said. “Unless we enforce them, there’s no sense in putting one out. It causes more headaches enforcing them.”
However, Sherrell said he will talk with Izard County Sheriff Tate Lawrence and chiefs of the fire departments in his county to see if they want a ban issued.
The county has had “four or five” grass fires this week, Sherrell said.
Barnes credits the burn bans for reducing the number of fires across the state. On Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 98 wildfires burned more than 1,400 acres, Barnes said. Only five fires burned the 11 acres on Thursday, she said.
“Burn bans work,” she said. “They put the burn bans out, we don’t have the fires.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 14 on 01/24/2014