With lawns and fields withering, 100-plus degree days piling up, and a forecast with no sign of measurable precipitation, Kendall County officials Monday signed a Declaration of Local Disaster that bans outdoor burning and all use of fireworks.
“(I) hereby declare a local state of disaster based on the threat of extremely intense wildfires in Kendall County,” County Judge Shane Stolarczyk declared when signing the statement. “Springs and rivers are low or no flow. Vegetation is dry and dying, the entire county is a tinderbox.”
The order keeps intact a July 10 prohibition of outdoor burning and any non-permitted use of hot-working materials, which could inadvertently ignite parched nearby grass or weeds. It adds the ban on fireworks.
Violation of the disaster declaration is punishable as a Class C misdemeanor with a fine not to exceed $500 per incident.
The Boerne area received less than two-tenths of an inch of rain in July, which usually produces an average of 2.56 inches. Rainfall on July 5 totaled 0.11 inches, with 0.01 inch measured on July 8, and 0.04 inch on July 22.
Only a half-inch of rain has fallen since June 7, leaving lawns, fields, ranches and roadsides withering in temperatures that continue to surpass the 100-degree mark on a daily basis.
The county’s declaration spells out the formula used to arrive at the declaration. Kendall relies on the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI), used by the Texas A&M Forest Service, to determine fire potential.
A KBDI value between 600-800, the highest range, indicates wildfires will show extreme intensity. Kendall’s index readings showed an average of 703 as of July 7, the most recent monthly readings, with a maximum value of 732 being achieved.
“Extraordinary measures must be taken to prevent the threat of wildfires from causing widespread damage, injury and loss of life and property,” the county judge said.
The declaration stands for a seven-day period but can be renewed by the county commission until the conditions responsible for the ban change.
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