Burn permits suspended in Boyle due to dry conditions

Published 8:11 pm Friday, August 16, 2019

Due to the increasing dry weather conditions, there will be no burn permits issued for Boyle County until further notice. Boyle Fire Chief Donnie Sexton said the conditions are far too dangerous for any controlled burns in the area.

“It’s not supposed to rain for some time, so we’re not issuing any permits at the present time,” Sexton said. Per a county ordinance, citizens must call in to obtain a permit before burning anything. There’s no fee to do this.

“What that does, it prevents us from coming out unnecessarily and bothering you. If you’ve got a permit and someone calls in on their cell because they think someone has a house or something on fire, we’ll send someone out to check on it — but it won’t be a signal 9, an emergency call to put out a fire,” he said. “It’s good for the customer, which is everyone in Boyle. We’ll know who’s burning and won’t send trucks out unnecessarily.”

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In cases where things are so dry and people try to burn something, “it won’t just burn up their property. You can get flying debris from it that travels across the road and set another citizen’s property on fire. We’ve seen that many times — especially with leaves or something.”

It’s all about protection, Sexton said. “We do the same thing when it’s high wind, extremely dry or we know a bad storm is coming in.”

For any questions or concerns, call the Boyle County Fire Protection District at (859) 236-8238. Sexton said if they are unable to answer, there is a recording with another number which may be used to contact him 24/7.