Payne County Commissioners extend burn ban to Oct. 27
Oct. 12—Due to the persisting fire danger, the Payne County Board of Commissioners met Wednesday to extend the county's burn ban to Oct. 27.
Commissioners also added fire services training to the list of exceptions to the fire prohibition, joining indoor fireplaces, commercial or professional covered cookers, welding torch-down type roofing, gas grills and permitted agricultural burning. Brush piles are not considered agricultural burns and are not exempt, according to the resolution.
In a recent episode of 'All things SWO' — the City of Stillwater's informational podcast — Stillwater Emergency Management Director Rob Hill said they expect a warmer and drier winter season than normal. The danger of fire increases when combined with the continuing drought and early dormant grasses. He compared the danger to when fires ripped through Glencoe a decade ago, consuming more than 2,000 acres and causing residents to evacuate their homes.
Former Stillwater Fire Marshall Trent Hawkins told the News Press in 2016 that the Glencoe fire made rural residents more fire aware.
"It opened a lot of rural people's eyes to fire, and we still get a lot of people who are skittish to smoke. We get a lot of calls to fires that nobody has actually seen the fire, just smoke, and it scares them."
