{"id":312787,"date":"2025-10-18T07:02:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T07:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/312787\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T07:02:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T07:02:15","slug":"commissioners-pass-burn-ban-in-unincorporated-harris-county-amid-dry-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/312787\/","title":{"rendered":"Commissioners pass burn ban in unincorporated Harris County amid dry conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\tHarris County commissioners implemented a burn ban beginning Oct. 16 for unincorporated Harris County due to what county officials are calling &#8220;ongoing dry weather and heightened fire danger.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In these dry conditions, a small spark could cause a big problem for our community,&#8221; Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The big picture<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>More than 150 counties <a href=\"https:\/\/communityimpact.com\/houston\/conroe-montgomery\/government\/2025\/10\/13\/montgomery-county-issues-burn-ban-amid-worsening-drought-conditions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">across Texas<\/a> are also under burn bans to reduce wildfire threats, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hcfmo.net\/Resources\/Wildfire-Burn-Bans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to the Harris County Fire Marshal&#8217;s Office<\/a>, including <a href=\"https:\/\/communityimpact.com\/houston\/conroe-montgomery\/government\/2025\/10\/13\/montgomery-county-issues-burn-ban-amid-worsening-drought-conditions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Montgomery<\/a>, Fort Bend, Waller, Chambers and Liberty counties.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What you need to know<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The ban will last for 90 days or until the Texas Forest Service determines drought conditions no longer exist in Harris County. The TFS measures drought conditions based on the <a href=\"https:\/\/twc.tamu.edu\/kbdi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Keetch-Byram Drought Index scale<\/a>, which finds conditions between 600-800 with the potential to lead to intense, prolonged wildfires. County officials found Harris County averaging 671, according to a news release.<\/p>\n<p>The burn ban prohibits:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Outdoor burning, except in an enclosure that contains all sparks and flames<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The burn ban allows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ceremonial fires<\/li>\n<li>Noncommercial cooking, such as backyard cookouts and barbecues<\/li>\n<li>Welding and other &#8220;hot work&#8221; performed in accordance with county fire code requirements<\/li>\n<li>Diwali firework celebrations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Violation of the burn ban is considered a Class C misdemeanor, according to a news release, punishable by up to a $500 fine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also of note<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If residents see an unattended fire, Fire Marshal officials advise calling 9-1-1 and notifying local fire department authorities. Additional safety tips provided by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hcfmo.net\/portals\/15\/Documents\/outdoor_burning_information.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fire Marshal&#8217;s Office include:<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Using precautions when outdoor cooking<\/li>\n<li>Properly discarding cigarettes and other smoking materials<\/li>\n<li>Being aware of threats related to lawn maintenance and vehicles in dry conditions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;I encourage Harris County to stay alert,&#8221; Hidalgo said. &#8220;Be careful and report any unattended fires to 911 immediately so we can help keep everyone safe.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harris County commissioners implemented a burn ban beginning Oct. 16 for unincorporated Harris County due to what county&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":312788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[157641,79778,157642,4345,358,3187,157643],"class_list":{"0":"post-312787","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-harris-county-burn-ban","9":"tag-harris-county-commissioners-court","10":"tag-harris-county-fire-marshal","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-tx","14":"tag-unincorporated-harris-county"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115393891255737500","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}