Burn ban in effect for Orange County; moderate drought continues across Central Florida

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orange County enacted a burn ban that will remain in effect for at least the next 7 days.

The ban was enacted due to values above 500 in The Keetch-Byram drought index. The Keetch-Byram (KBDI) is a continuous reference scale for estimating the dryness of the soil and duff layers. Orange County will not lift the ban unless the values decrease to below 500 for 7 consecutive days.

Please refrain from igniting fires in Orange County and over much of Central Florida. The drought monitor also shows abnormally dry conditions across all of Central Florida and moderate drought (a level more severe than abnormal) across Seminole, Orange, northern Osceola and Polk, much of Lake, southeast Marion, Volusia, Sumter, and northern Brevard.

The abnormally warm winter and spring along with the dry season has taken a told in our vegetation and fires can propagate faster.

A small fire or any debris burning that escapes can ignite a much bigger fire or wildfire. There are some fires that require previous authorization from the Florida Forest Service, such as: agricultural burning, silvicultural burning, land clearing, pile burning, and acreage burning. Any piles that are larger than 8 feet in diameter requires a burn authorization from the Florida Forest Service. Read the steps to get a prescribed burn authorization in Florida, here. Find out how to request authorization, here.

The Florida Forest Service reminds Florida residents on its website that it is illegal to burn household garbage including paper products, treated lumber, plastics, rubber materials, tires, pesticide, paint, and aerosol containers.

There are some activities that do not require a burn authorization, like burning yard waste such as grass clippings, brush leaves, tree limbs, and palm fronds if the pile is smaller than 8 feet in diameter. Also, you must be: 25 feet from forests, 50 feet from paved public roads, 25 feet from your house and 150 feet from other occupied buildings. Besides the specifications above the yard, the waste burn should be ignited after 9 a.m. and extinguished one hour before sunset. If there is a burn ban in effect locally, in your city or county, then you cannot burn at all. Here are some tips provided by the Florida Forest Service if you are not under any burn ban ordinance and following all the previous requirements:

• Clear an area down to bare soil around your pile to prevent the fire from spreading.
• Cover a noncombustible container with wire mesh to keep sparks from flying out and starting new fires.
• Check with your local city and county officials to find out if there are any restrictions in your area.

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