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Bexar County commissioners on Tuesday approved a 90-day burn ban with immediate effect. The move comes as a drought continues and a big fire scorched a part of South Bexar County.
A property owner was given a warning after allowing a legal trash burn to get out of control near Applewhite and Silver Mountain Roads in South Bexar County. The ensuing wildfire burned more than 260 acres.
Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai asked County Fire Marshal Chris Lopez during Tuesday's county commissioners meeting whether negligent residents can be ordered to pay for the big expense of a large county fire response.
Lopez told the judge they cannot be ordered to pay up under the law, but they can be fined and criminally charged if serious property damage is involved.
"If a fire gets out of control, as you stated, and someone else's property is burned, let's say it's their home or fencing or anything like that, any type of structure, they could be criminally charged with arson," said Lopez.
Violators of the burn ban can be fined up to $500. For more information on outdoor burning guidelines, visit www.bexar.org/fmo.
Wildfires are easily started in Bexar County during the month of August, usually the longest and driest month of the year, unless a tropical disturbance pushes in from the Gulf of Mexico to trigger rain.
The U.S. Drought Monitor reports Bexar County continues to have some of the worst drought conditions in the nation.
