Remember the widespread flooding in our area last fall following Hurricane Ian and Nicole?
It's a thing of the past. After just a couple of inches of rain have fallen since the first of the year, Osceola County is abnormally dry, and fire officials are taking action.
Osceola County this weekend announced it's instituting a burn ban for all types of outside burning, including open fire pits, campfires, and yard debris within the unincorporated areas of Osceola County. The burn ban is effective immediately and will be lifted as weather and vegetation conditions improve. The ban will be enforced by Osceola County Code Enforcement, Law Enforcement and Emergency Services personnel, county officials said.
The Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI), a real-time reference scale for expressing the dryness of soil and top layers, measures from 0 (fully saturated) to 800 (total dryness). Osceola's figure as of Monday morning is 515, with 94% of the county between 400-600. As an average, that's abnormally dry, and a stark contrast to Oct. 1, 2022, when the county's average was under 100 after Hurricane Ian dropped 15 inches of rain across the county Sept. 28-29.
Counties near or south of Lake Okeechobee are averaging 560 to 600. Collier County in southwest Florida has the highest number in the state at 665, while most of the Florida Panhandle is averaging under 200.
Osceola County Fire Rescue will continue to monitor conditions to determine when the burn ban will be lifted. Once the ban is lifted, another notice will be distributed, along with updates at its dedicated web page at http://fire.osceola.org.
