To Burn or Not to Burn

by Forrest M. Mims III

Hurricane Emily brought much needed rain to portions of South Texas and Mexico. But much of the Southwest remains bone dry. County officials across Texas have been approving bands on outdoor burning.

Some officials are rightly concerned about the increasing number of grass and brush fires during the summer drought.

Others note that burn bans are superfluous, since they are very difficult enforce. They suggest that people should use common sense when it comes to fire.

Hot, dry summers provide plenty of examples of people who fail to apply common sense to fire. Last summer while driving along a highway, a large plume of smoke could be seen in the distance. I headed for the smoke and found people with shovels and garden hoses trying to control a large grass fire.

Volunteer firemen were hard at work on the more intense portions of the fire, which covered several acres. Apparently the fire was started by trash being burned in a barrel. It spread rapidly, and nearly ignited two mobile homes.

Cigarettes cause many fires along highways. Fireworks cause many fires, as do children playing with matches.

Catalytic converters under cars and pickups can become hot enough to ignite dry grass. Garden tractors can emit sparks that can also ignite dry grass.

None of these kinds of fires would be covered by a burn ban. A ban would mainly affect farmers, ranchers and land developers. These folk generally know what they are doing, but not always. And they are often excluded from burn bans

Several years ago a huge plume of smoke could be seen far to the southeast of our place on Geronimo Creek. A land owner had decided to clear part of his woods by setting fire to the trees! Volunteer firemen were not pleased by the fact the land owner had not notified them first. They stood by and watched while the woods burned.

Common sense didn’t work in this case-–and a burn ban would probably have made no difference, either.

Besides the risk of out of control grass and brush fires, ozone pollution that can be caused by smoke is an important reason to avoiding burning on hot summer days.

Should a smoke plume from a large fire pass over a government ozone monitor and cause a major ozone violation, the government’s regulators will be glad to enforce major penalties.

Forrest M. Mims III and his science are featured online at www.forrestmims.org.

This feature was originally published in Forrest Mims's weekly science column in the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise, Seguin, Texas. The column is written for a general audience.