After All Burn Bans Were Cancelled In East Texas, Some Are Back

Get our free mobile app

The headline from the summer of 2022 and the beginning of fall 2022 should read something like ...

'East Texas Was Dried Up, Then Extremely Moist and Now Dry Again'.

This past summer we saw an excessive amount of 100+ degree days across East Texas throughout June and July and then August came and it was like a switch had flipped. The temperatures were down a bit and we had a period where it rained nearly every single day for a couple of weeks. Since then, nothing.

Before the rain came, every single county in East Texas was under a burn ban. It was illegal to do any kind of burning anywhere in East Texas, but people still did it. There were some wildfires, but thankfully none like they suffer from in California. Then the rains came and after that event was over all of the burn bans disappeared and our drought was nearly wiped away with just a few weeks of rain.

It has now been over a month since East Texas has seen any measurable amount of rain. The ground is drying up again, drought conditions are returning and so are the burn bans. East Texas county judges have once again started issuing burn bans due to the lack of rainfall.

The following counties are now under burn bans: (Texas A&M Forest Service)

• Anderson County
• Angelina County
• Cherokee County
• Houston County
• Nacogdoches County
• Panola County
• Polk County
• Rusk County
• Sabine County
• Trinity County

If you live in a county that is listed above, it is once again illegal to do any outdoor burning. If your county is not listed, although it is legal to do outdoor burning, please do so with extreme caution. Be aware of wind conditions when you are burning and have an extinguisher or water source to put out the fire in case it spreads. If you're going to do any kind of large burning in a field, please alert your local fire department or sheriff's office so they will be aware of what's happening on your property.