BROOKINGS — Persistent dry conditions have been on the minds of Brookings County commissioners as of late, so much so that at their March 3 meeting they considered enacting a burn ban.
A couple of timely rounds of moisture, though, mostly cooled the enthusiasm for the burning ban resolution, which went down in defeat on a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Dave Miller being its sole supporter.
“With the recent snowfall, I don’t know if we need this,” Commissioner Kelly VanderWal said. “If we look back to (Feb. 26) when we were putting the agenda together, conditions were a lot different than they were (Feb. 28). We felt it was necessary just to talk about it.”
A second round of moisture arrived days after the March 3 vote. Still, monitoring any burning, combined with a healthy dollop of caution, remains the best mindset to have.
“I’ve said this before at previous meetings, but if we’re doing controlled burns, our citizens in our county have to do a good job of monitoring them from start to finish,” VanderWal said.
He also praised the system used by Emergency Manager Bob Hill, which triggers when the National Weather Service issues a red flag warning.
“That works. It works very well. My only concern with that is if you have a fire that’s not quite out yesterday and tomorrow’s a red flag warning day, that’s when you see problems,” VanderWal noted. “Citizens in the county, just please pay attention to controlled burns.”
Brookings County, along with Deuel, Hamlin and Kingsbury counties, remain primarily in abnormally dry conditions per the U.S. Drought Monitor. Moderate drought conditions dominate in Lake and Moody counties, with southeast Brookings County also affected.
In closing, Commissioner Larry Jensen echoed VanderWal’s concerns.
“Please, if you’re going to do some burning, please call into the dispatch center and report that you are doing that,” he said. “It gives them a heads up and maybe if something happens — it gets away — they already know where you’re at.”
— Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].
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