County Approves Ban On Outdoor Burning

Pasco County commissioners, acting at the request of fire officials, on Tuesday imposed a ban on outdoor burning.

The ban prohibits burning yard waste or debris from land clearing, building campfires and bonfires or setting fire to garbage. It covers only unincorporated areas of Pasco County.

The ban also gives commissioners the power to prohibit outdoor events involving vehicles where hot exhaust systems and catalytic converters could start a wildfire.

With the 4th of July looming, the ordinance adopted as an emergency measure makes exceptions for permitted fireworks. It will stay in effect until county commissioners revoke the ban.

The move, requested by Pasco County Fire Rescue, follows a state of emergency declared in Florida by Gov. Rick Scott on June 13 because of the drought conditions and wildfires rampaging across the state.

A slow start to summer rains and temperatures running nearly five degrees above average have turned much of the state into tinder, including Pasco County.

On an index that measures how quickly wildfires can start or spread with 0 considered saturated and a low fire threat and 800 an extremely high threat, Pasco stands at 620. The state average is 590.

Tuesday’s move means Pasco joined 29 other counties banning outdoor burning. Citrus is the closest county to Pasco with a burn ban.

Also, the state Division of Forestry is prohibiting campfires on all its land as well as national forests, state land managed by the Department of Environmental Protection, water management districts and the Fish and Wildlife Commission.

As of Monday, there were 53 fires in the state larger than 100 acres, though none in Pasco or neighboring Hernando County. One fire in southern Hillsborough covered 175 acres. Statewide, there were 440 active wildfires covering more than 376,000 acres of state and federal land.

The arid conditions, with more than 90 percent of the state under some level of a drought, come from a dry and hot April and May with only spotty rainfall. The typical summer afternoon rain cycle, that normally gets underway in early June, has not started.

Temperatures have hit the middle to high 90s and rainfall chances are in the 10 percent to 20 percent range. The normal summer afternoon has a 40 percent chance for rain.

High pressure has dominated the recent weather and pulled in dry air in the middle range of the atmosphere, shutting off thunderstorms that try to form.

The National Weather Service is calling for a change later in the week as an area of low pressure moves in and pulls abundant moisture over the state from the tropics. That, forecasters say, should be enough to spark rain on Thursday and Friday with chances closer to normal for this time of year.

Clouds should also bring temperatures down to about 90, close to normal for the middle of June.