According to the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, 20 counties have declared bans on outdoor burning. One of those is Clark County, just east of Lexington. Judge-Executive Les Yates said he consulted with the county fire marshal before instituting the burn ban last Thursday. He said despite occasional pop-up showers, it’s very dry there.
“Basically what the fire ban says is you cannot have any outside open flames that could produce an ember. That's kind of a simplistic definition,” he said.
An Energy and Environment Cabinet spokeswoman said other counties may have declared burn bans and not reported them to the cabinet. Yates acknowledged a burn ban declaration can be an unpopular call to make.
“Had one gentleman came in to see me, wanted to do things with maybe Boy Scouts and, well, they can't have an open fire. It's tough, something that has to be done, because we can't take a chance of a major fire,” he said.
With more dry weather forecast for much of Kentucky through at least Monday, the county burn ban list could grow.
County burn bans (as of Wednesday)
Adair
Bourbon
Boyd
Casey
Clark
Edmonson
Fleming
Fulton
Green
Harrison
Henry
Lewis
Logan
Mason
Metcalfe
Robertson
Russell
Taylor
Todd
Warren
Source: KY Energy and Environment Cabinet
