JOHNSON COUNTY — Due to dry conditions in Johnson County, agencies and municipalities are urging citizens to refrain from burning anything.
Fire departments in Warrensburg and Knob Noster announced a burn ban Thursday, July 21, effective immediately in both municipalities until further notice.
“Typically, any open burning or most open burning in the city limits of Warrensburg requires a burn permit and we have different parameters that we look at with that,” Warrensburg Fire Department Fire Prevention Officer Jeremy VanWey said.
VanWey said there are other factors, like wind speed, the department considers when issuing burn bans, but the lack of rain is the primary reason for this ban.
“I’ve been kind of monitoring the drought conditions the last several weeks and this week, when it updated, we went from the classification of abnormally dry to moderate drought,” VanWey said.
VanWey said there is very little to no sub-soil moisture and vegetation is dry.
“When we get into those prolonged situations like this, we instituted the burn ban effective today (Thursday, July 21) and we’ll continue to monitor over the coming weeks, but it’s going to take some pretty significant rainfall to get us kinda over that hump where we can allow burning again.”
The Johnson County Fire Protection District and Johnson County Fire Protection District 2 do not have the authority to implement burn bans in their jurisdictions.
JCFPD2 Fire Chief David Miller said the district recommends residents refrain from burning.
“It hasn’t turned into a big issue yet but obviously as we hit 100 degrees and the wind blows it won’t take long for that to spiral out of control,” Miller said. “During the drought situation we know that means a lack of water and everything starts to burn up so burning would be a big issue. … If people would wait until we got some adequate rain before they burned, whether that be trash or burn piles or any type of fireworks. Electric fences often cause grass fires.”
Miller said as vegetation becomes drier, it’s easier for fires to start and fires spread faster.
“If you have high humidity, stuff doesn’t burn real well with high humidity cause there is moisture in the air, but lower the humidity the more tinder it becomes and burns faster,” Miller said.
Miller said the higher temperatures also impact firefighters who are fully geared up when fighting fires.
“We haven’t had any rain in quite a while now and everything’s starting to dry out,” Captain Stephen Ashbridge, Knob Noster Fire Department, said. “This heat is taking all the moisture out of the natural materials, like grass, wood and such which will burn so much easier.”
Ashbridge said people should refrain from flicking cigarette ash out vehicle windows because of the brush and crops on the side of the road are drier.
“Taking into mind also the wind conditions,” Ashbridge said. “If it starts getting windy, it’ll carry sparks and ashes farther, which can catch fire farther away from where (the original) fire is located. With this dry condition, it won’t be much to get that going also.”
Cassidy Poteet, director of the Johnson County Emergency Management Agency, said the Department of Natural Resources has a lot of information on drought conditions throughout the state.
“I think it’s important for the public to remain aware of what’s going on,” Poteet said.
Poteet said residents should coordinate any controlled burns with their local fire department or fire district.
The Office of the Governor is reporting dry conditions across the state, especially in the southern counties.
Gov. Mike Parson issued an executive order to activate the Drought Assessment Committee and associated drought impact teams from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
“Governor Parson has directed all state agencies to examine how they may assist affected communities, as well as those communities that may be affected in the future, through temporary suspension of administrative rules, appropriation, or other means of support to mitigate the effects of drought conditions,” the Office of the Governor states. “Additionally, Governor Parson has proactively directed the departments of Natural Resources and Conservation to create a process for allowing farmers water access at state parks and conservation areas. The Department of Natural Resources will also assess state park areas that can be made available for haying. The Missouri Department of Transportation will offer special over-width hauling permits, which waive certain fees and restrictions to farmers and ranchers moving hay.”
VanWey said wind can pick up embers and sparks to unintended locations or feed an existing fire, causing it to become out of control.
“When it’s been dry like this, buildings and construction materials, any kind of buildup around homes, like leaves or stuff in the gutters or tree debris, all that’s kind of dry as well,” VanWey said. “It just creates some conditions that are just a little bit higher risk.”
Recreational fires, fire pits and brush burning are prohibited. The use of grills are still allowed with precautions.
“Be careful with your charcoal ash, keeping the lid on your grill … so we don’t have sparks and ash and stuff flying around,” VanWey said. “When we also get into dry conditions like this, we also need to think about other things like discarded smoking materials. Are we stamping those out in a container or stamping them out directly into dirt or concrete, compared to stomping it out in the grass or just giving it a flick into the grass or planter boxes.”
VanWey said equipment and machinery such as lawnmowers or powered garden tools can send out sparks.
“It’s a lot easier now for fires to start and then once those fires have started they can spread very rapidly,” VanWey said.
