Commissioners lifted the burn ban after recent rainfall brought by the remnants of Hurricane Helene lessened the severity of local drought conditions.
The Johnson County Board of Commissioners voted to rescind the 30-day county-wide burn ban Thursday. The county is no longer categorized as being in “moderate drought” conditions with the county’s U.S. Drought Monitor, just “abnormally dry.”
If there isn’t significant rainfall in the next few weeks, the burn ban may come back again, Commissioner Brian Baird said.
“What we need to understand is we’ve got some more dry weather coming up for the next several probably 10 to 12 days at least, so we may be looking at having to do this again for a few days if we don’t at least get some more rain,” Baird said. “We didn’t get enough to really correct everything that needed to be corrected, but I think we got enough that we can look at — if people will use common sense — dismissing the (ban).”
The ban was originally implemented for seven days and would’ve ended Sept. 24. However prior to its extention, the commissioners voted to extend the ban for 30 days which would’ve expired Oct. 23.
According to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, Johnson County was one of only five counties in Indiana who had a burn ban still in effect. Fifty other counties previously lifted their bans.
