Hurricane Matthew has come and gone, but the South Carolina Forestry Commission’s statewide burning ban remains in effect.
A State Forester’s Burning Ban prohibits outdoor burning, which includes yard debris burning and burning for forestry, wildlife or agricultural purposes. While campfires and open-fire cooking are not included in the ban, the Forestry Commission strongly advises all citizens to be extremely vigilant until the ban is lifted.
“We’ve had lots of calls wondering why there’s a burning ban when most of the state received so much rainfall from Hurricane Matthew,” said SCFC Fire Chief Darryl Jones. “We want people to understand that we issued the ban not because of elevated fire danger necessarily, but rather because so many firefighting and emergency personnel and resources are committed to hurricane-related response.”
After consultation with Gov. Nikki Haley and other emergency response organizations last week, State Forester Gene Kodama recommended declaring the ban to reduce possible wildfire ignitions. Local fire departments are supportive of the statewide burning ban as well, as it is intended to ease the strain on firefighting personnel – from both the Forestry Commission and from local fire departments – many of whom were dispatched to coastal regions to assist with evacuation procedures, law enforcement activities, damage assessment and now cleanup.
In addition to performing its normal wildfire suppression operations, the Forestry Commission deployed about 40 firefighting and law enforcement personnel and resources to coastal regions to support the state’s coordinated evacuation procedures. Additionally, thousands of firefighters and other emergency responders from local departments around the state are also engaged in hurricane response for the next several days.
From the South Carolina Forestry Commission: https://www.state.sc.us/forest/releases/statewideburningbanstillineffect.pdf