Barr sent out the warning Tuesday afternoon during a special meeting of the county commissioner’s court, as the court reviewed the purchase of $2,835 in Class A foam to fight recent grass fires in the area.

“I want to emphasize the fact that we’re in a burn ban and you have to meet special requirements to burn in the county,” said Barr. “I’ve had several calls about burning trash and things like that. You have to have a special lid on your trash can to burn, but do not do it in a high wind.

“The fire they had out on Highway 350 this past Friday was started by two gentlemen who were cutting a fence with a cutting torch. They didn’t have water handy and it got away from them. They were fined $500 for violating the burn ban, and they were fined another $500 each for endangering other people’s homes. Everyone needs to be very well aware of that. It comes at a cost if you violate the burn ban.”

Barr said the recent onslaught of grass fires in the county has taken a heavy toll on volunteer firefighters.

“Our volunteer fire department is running on almost empty because of all these fires,” said Barr. “They were fighting one this morning (Tuesday morning) at 4 a.m. They’re tired, real tired. And we have a real danger out there. That’s why i want to make it very plain to everyone.”

Barr said there are only special circumstances when burning is allowed during the ban, and a number of conditions have to be met.

“You have to have a special reason to burn in the county right now. There are three reasons,” said Barr. “The first is a prescribed burn, which is done by professionals with the volunteer fire department at the site, just in case something does happen. You can also burn your trash, but you have to have a special lid that has a screen on top, so the embers can’t float out and cause fires. Welding on pipelines and those types of things are also allowed, but you have to have water present and be very, very careful of what you’re doing, especially when the wind is up like it was Friday.

“A fire can get away from you very easily, and in that case out on Highway 350, there were homes everywhere. It could have caused some people some severe damage, but the volunteer fire department and forest service did an excellent job containing that fire. Of course, it got into some old jumk and stuff like that, which was still smoldering Monday.”

Barr said motorists need to take care where they park their vehicles, yet another source of wildfires.

“People also need to be aware the catalytic converters on cars can also start fires,” said Barr. “If you stop in a grassy area and sit there for a little while, that can also cause a fire. We really need to be very careful out there right now.”

Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at