Burn ban remains in place until county gets more rain

The Gonzales County burn ban will remain in place for now until the county receives a significant amount of rainfall to alleviate serious drought conditions.

The burn ban has been in effect in Gonzales County since Friday, Oct. 18. County Emergency Management Director and Fire Marshal Jimmy Harless told commissioners during their Monday, Oct. 28 meeting that the county’s Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) average is 709, up 23 points from the 686 average in the county on Oct. 15, the day commissioners adopted the burn ban. That includes a low of 666 and a high of 748.

Texas A&M Forest Service (TFS), which monitors wildfire conditions for the state, uses KDBI for determination of drought conditions within the State of Texas. KBDI was developed by John L. Keetch and George Byram with the US Forest Service Southeastern Research Station to correlate the effects of drought on wildfire potential.

The KBDI is based on a daily water balance, where a drought factor is balanced with precipitation and soil moisture (assumed to have a maximum storage capacity of eight inches) and is expressed in hundredths of an inch of soil moisture depletion. 

The KBDI attempts to measure the amount of precipitation necessary to return the soil to full field capacity. It is a closed system ranging from 0 to 800, where 0 represents a saturated soil, and 800 an absolutely dry soil. At any point along the scale, the KBDI value indicates the amount of precipitation it would take to bring the moisture level back to zero, or saturation.

When the KDBI falls between 600-800, this is often associated with more severe drought with increased wildfire occurrence. Intense, deep-burning fires with extreme intensities can be expected. Live fuels can also be expected to burn actively at these levels.

Anyone who violates the burn ban by burning any combustible material outside of an enclosure can be cited at the discretion of Harless or a peace officer for a Class C misdemeanor, which is punishable by a fine of up to $500.

Editor’s Note: Due to Monday’s meeting being a long one with a lot on the agenda and only so much space in the newspaper, the Inquirer will have stories about the subdivision ordinance passage, the Courthouse THC grant and the Randle Rather annex in the Nov. 8 edition.