A controlled fire burns one night last week on Burleson Street in Kyle. Photo by Brenda Stewart
By JONATHAN YORK
Early Friday something glimmered in the darkness just off Burleson Street in Kyle. There were low flames at the middle of a brush pile, and the wind was snatching embers up one at a time and flinging them off at the shadows.
The grass around the pile had been cleared away, and there was nothing within easy reach of the flames except big piles of ashes. Was it a hazard? The fire probably wouldn’t spread. But all the same, that wind ...
This reporter called it in.
The fireman who drove up looked a little bit peeved. He said they’d been called out to this site five times already. “I really wish they hadn’t lifted the burn ban,” he said.
All over Kyle, people who had heard the news lost no time: Grass was cleared, brush was stacked, fires were lit. And all over Kyle, the neighbors got worried that the glimmer in somebody’s lawn or the trail of smoke in the distance was about to become the next disaster.
Deputy Fire Chief Rick Beaman guessed there were around 15 smoke investigation calls on Thursday. An official at the Buda Fire Department said that they too had received several calls from people who didn’t know that it was legal to burn.
Beaman said: “There would be several calls directly to the station where people would say, ‘my neighbor’s burning,’ and we’d say, ‘yes ma’am, the burn ban has been lifted.’ And they’d say, ‘well, OK, I’m gonna go burn too.’”
Hays County had lifted the burn ban following last week’s brief morning storm. On Tuesday, the commissioners court decided not to reinstate the ban, giving residents at least one more week to finish burning.
