You hear words like, drought or dry conditions, daily in conversation and the fire danger is real. It is hot and experts say there is fuel to burn so once a fire gets started it is difficult to get it under control. But Tulsa County is currently not under a burn ban. In fact, Tulsa County is one of 7 counties of the state’s 77 counties currently not under a burn ban.
Just like the early heat we saw in June and above normal temperatures, cities and communities have seen an early increase in the number of fires. Sand Springs Interim Fire Chief Mike Wood says those fires started in early June and typically the kind of calls they would get about this time of the year.
Wood would like to see a burn ban issued for Tulsa County but he adds the process for issuing a burn ban is complicated and involves a series of questions. It is those questions that typically divide the more urban of areas of the Tulsa metro area and the more rural areas of the county.
“It is not that the Tulsa Fire Department is against the Sand Springs Fire Department in answering those questions. They are answering them truthfully but the system is flawed,” says Wood.
He says once the criteria is met for a burn ban, then area fire departments are surveyed and asked to answer a series of questions. Wood says his answers supported a burn ban the last three times but one ‘no’ answer from those surveyed and a burn ban is not issued.
He says the process right now for a burn ban is more reactive than proactive and the questions involve what has happened instead of what could happen.
Wood would like to see the burn ban criteria changed to include a fire chief's recommendation as well as drought conditions and not be based on the answers to a series of questions.