Dry, windy conditions with little if any precipitation in the forecast is prompting burn bans in several north and northeast Iowa counties.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office approved a burn ban in Winneshiek County that went into effect at 8:30 am Thursday (01.30), with Howard County’s burn ban effective as of noon Thursday and Delaware County’s burn ban up as of 3 pm Thursday.
A burn ban was approved by the State Fire Marshal for Floyd County around 8:30 pm Thursday night, but was officially made effective as of 4 pm Thursday, which is about the time Floyd County Emergency Management Agency Director Jason Webster says he submitted the County’s request for the burn ban.
Prior to state approval. Webster said in a department Facebook post, “Due to the extremely dry vegetation conditions in the county and the number of grass/wildland fires that your area fire departments have been out on over the last few days, this office has submitted a request to the State Fire Marshal’s Office to declare an Open Burning Ban for Floyd County. It will likely take effect tonight, although I’m not sure when they will make it official. I will update this post once I get word back.”
Bremer County enacted a burn ban effective at 6 pm Thursday (01.30), with Grundy County to go into effect at 8 am Friday (01.31). Franklin County will be under a burn ban starting at noon on Friday (01.31).
As of 9 pm Thursday, there were nine burn bans either in effect or approved to go into effect in Iowa.
