As dry conditions continue, both Oktibbeha and Lowndes counties are under burn bans.
According to Oktibbeha County Fire Coordinator Patrick Warner, the county instituted a new burn ban effective Nov. 8 that will last at least a month.
“We had a burn ban about two months ago, but it lapsed,” Warner said. “It’s the severe drought. Probably 80-90% of the state is under a burn ban right now.”
Burn bans apply to any fire that involves an open flame and produces an ember, according to the Mississippi Forestry Commission. The MFC website shows only 13 counties without burn bans. Of those 13, the closest is Choctaw County, with the majority of the others being in either the northern or western reaches of the state.
The dryness, combined with the season, has made fire risk exceptionally high, Warner said.
“We haven’t had any rain, plus the vegetation is decaying which makes (the risk) a lot worse,” Warner said. “You’re just driving down the road and something happens and a spark hits and it causes a fire.”
It’s not just expected activities like burning refuse or tossing out a cigarette that can spark grass fires when it’s this dry, Warner said.
“Just be mindful,” Warner said. “If you’re out bushhogging, it’s always good to have a fire extinguisher on board. Metal friction can throw a spark into dead grass. Sometimes accidents happen, like a trailer blows out a tire and the rim hits the road and throws sparks off into the grass.”
The city of Starkville also has a burn ban, and has had one for months, said Fire Marshal Mark McCurdy.
“We issued one back in September, and it’s still going,” McCurdy said. “We haven’t lifted it because it hasn’t actually rained in a long time.”
McCurdy said the city has been fairly lucky in that it hasn’t had a lot of fires since the ban was implemented.
“We’ve had a handful of grass fires,” McCurdy said. “Obviously the city is not as rural, and we don’t have the huge acreage of land that’s grass and forest like the county does. A lot of ours come from the highways. People throw out cigarettes and it catches the grass on fire.”
People are doing their part and honoring the ban, McCurdy said.
“People recognize the seriousness of the situation with the drought, and they’re not burning,” McCurdy said. “That has drastically helped us.”
Both Lowndes County and the city of Columbus remain under a burn ban.
The Lowndes ban, which applies to both city and county residents, went into effect Oct. 28 and remains in place until Nov. 28. The small amount of rain the area has received since was not sufficient to make any difference to the fire risk.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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