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“I hope we don’t have to do this for very long,” County Judge Don Pozzi said. “But as I look at the long-range forecast for this week, I don’t see any rain.”
The commissioners court vote to adopt the burn ban comes one week after it banned the sale and use of some fireworks for July 4. That ban applies to skyrockets with sticks and missiles with fins.
Household trash may still be burned in a closed or screened container and supervised trench burning will be allowed at the Victoria County brush site near the airport.
Victoria joins at least 97 other Texas counties that have enacted burn bans, according to the Texas Forest Service Web site.
The Victoria County ban is in effect for 90 days, or until the forest service determines enough rain has fallen to ease the drought. Rainy weather isn’t in the picture.
“They’re not putting in any chance of rain in the forecast through Thursday,” said Beth Tilley with the National Weather Service. The rain chances increase to about 5 or 10 percent on Friday before dropping off for the weekend, she said.
“It’s not looking very good,” Tilley said.
The average drought index for Victoria County reached 624 on Monday. Victoria Fire Chief Vance Riley said when the drought rises above 600, the number of wildfires begins to increase.
There were two grass fires Monday after a quiet weekend, he said.
“So far, we haven’t had a high quantity of grass fires,” Riley said. “But each day that goes by without rain, it just makes conditions that much worse.”
The weather service has recorded less than 11 inches of rain in Victoria since the beginning of the year. That’s more than 6.50 inches below normal.
Victoria had more than 30 inches of rain by this time last year. The U.S. Drought Monitor shows Victoria County is in a severe drought, which is the middle of five categories ranging from abnormally dry to exceptional drought.
David Tewes is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6515 or dtewes@vicad.com.