Comal County commissioners have put a 90-day outdoor-burning ban on their Aug. 20 action agenda, a proposal covering unincorporated areas with limited exceptions and fines of up to $500.
The county currently lists the burn ban as off; if adopted, the draft would restrict outdoor burning only in unincorporated Comal County.
The proposed order would exempt specified public-safety, utility, natural-gas pipeline, mining and agricultural burns authorized by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. It would also allow qualifying prescribed burns and burns conducted with a written county Fire Marshal permit.
A knowing or intentional violation would be a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500. The draft would let the county judge suspend the restriction for no more than 48 hours or lift it after officials determine that drought conditions no longer exist.
The posted form contains blank fields for the Keetch-Byram Drought Index value, effective date, effective time and recorded vote. Those fields would have to be settled through the court’s action and any final signed order.
Commissioners are scheduled to meet at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 20 in the Commissioners Courtroom at 100 Main Plaza in New Braunfels. The outdoor-burning proposal is item 27.