Burn ban in effect for Logan County

Update: Just after hours the Logan County Board of County Commissioners issued a county-wide burn ban, Governor Mary Fallin issued a governor’s burn ban.

Gov. Fallin issues two-week burn ban for 53 counties; includes Logan County

Original Article

The Logan County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a county-wide burn ban, effective immediately, on Friday morning. The ban was implemented due to dry conditions.

The ban is enacted until Feb 15. State law allows a max of 14 days. With a regular scheduled BOCC meeting set for Feb. 15, the BOCC could extend the ban.

Video of the meeting is below this article.

Any person convicted of a violation of a county-issued burn ban shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of not more than $500, imprisonment for up to one year or to both.

“We are extremely dry,” Guthrie Fire Chief Eric Harlow said. “The fuel loads are prime for burning fiercely. When we get warmer than average days, low humidity and high winds, we have a perfect recipe for devastating, fast moving wildfires.”

Harlow enacted a city-wide burn ban for the city limits on Guthrie last week.

Exempted from the ban is outdoor cooking in grills, smokers, fryers and similar equipment.

Logan County becomes the 15th Oklahoma county to enact a county-wide burn ban.

Prior to passage of a burn-ban resolution, the BOCC must declare the existence of extreme fire danger. As defined in the law, extreme fire danger means:

1. Severe, extreme, or exceptional drought conditions exist within the county as determined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

2. No more than one-half (1/2) inch of precipitation is forecast for the next three (3) days by the National Weather Service.

3. Fire occurrence is significantly greater than normal for the season and/or initial attack on a significant number of wildland fires has been unsuccessful due to extreme fire behavior and/or where data is available, more than twenty percent (20%) of the wildfires in the county have been caused by escaped debris burning or controlled burning.

It is unlawful for any person to set fire to any forest, grass, range, crop or other wildlands, or to build a campfire or bonfire, or to burn trash or other material that may cause a forest, grass, range, crop or other wildlands fire in any county of this state in which the board of county commissioners of the county has passed a resolution declaring a period of extreme fire danger.