By Conrad Easterday, CTCN Editor

When the CTCN reported worsening drought conditions a month ago, just a handful of counties on the southwest border of Oklahoma were in such distress that burn bans were necessary. Now more than half of Oklahoma’s 77 counties have fallen under those prohibitions.
Grady County has another week left under its current ban while Stephens County Commissioners implemented a two-week ban at their regular meeting Monday, Oct. 28. Until now, the fall fire season hadn’t been severe enough to require action, District 1 Commissioner Kreg Murphree said.
“They’re calling for rain but the conditions are favorable for fire,” he said. “As of now we’ve got fire departments begging us to put this ban in place. (So) we did enact a burn ban good for two weeks unless renewed or taken off.”
It’s been a long time since the Commission has taken this step, which makes it unlawful for “any person to set fire to any forest, grass, range, crop or other wild lands, or to build a campfire or bonfire, or to burn trash or other material that may cause a forest, grass, range, crop or other wildlands fire.
The resolution also lists a few exceptions, most involving road construction and welding.
In approving the ban, Stephens County scratched most of the boxes in a state checklist, but they listened most to the fire department chiefs who offered firsthand accounts of the conditions in their county.
Conditions were similarly dangerous last fall, and as a consequence, the county recorded numerous burn bans, Murphree said.
The necessity for such measure is best represented by the nearby Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, which was still burning as of press time. Starting last Thursday and whipped by strong winds Monday and Tuesday, more than 12,500 acres have burned over six days. The fire is 48 percent contained.
And while the southwestern counties have been debating and passing bans for several weeks, dry conditions are spreading to other parts of the state. On Monday, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol closed U.S. 412 in Garfield County due to a grass fire.
Everywhere, fire chiefs and state residents are hoping for rain to break the drought and reduce the danger of wildfires.
Predicted rains today and this weekend may offer some relief, said Kim Duke, of the Grady County Fire Department.
“I expect the burn ban will lift if it actually puts that much rain on the ground,” she said.
Not much rain should fall today nor Thursday or Friday, but the weekend could bring as much as 4 inches, said meteorologist Jennifer Thompson of the National Weather Service’s office in Norman.