ORLANDO, Fla. — A burn ban has been ordered for unincorporated areas of Orange County and any municipalities under Orange County Fire Rescue services, including Edgewood, Belle Isle, Oakland, and Eatonville.
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This comes as the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) either meets or exceeds 500, at which point a burn ban is immediately issued under Orange County’s Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services classifies the KBDI as “a continuous reference scale for estimating the dryness of the soil and duff layers.”
READ: Heavy rain needed to combat Central Florida’s longstanding drought
The index goes up each day there is no recorded rain and goes down whenever it does rain. “The scale,” according to the FDACS, “ranges from 0 (no moisture deficit) to 800.”
Currently, in Orange County, the KBDI is averaging between 500 and 549.
The instituted burn ban “prohibits all outdoor burning, unless a permit has been issued; recreational open burning such as campfires, ceremonial bonfires, outdoor fireplaces, and/or open flame heating devices; burning of yard waste, debris, trash, and other materials.”
Violators can face fire extinguishing and enforcement action by Orange County officials.
The burn ban will be lifted once the KBDI falls below 500 for seven consecutive days. For more information on the ban, you can visit Orange County websites and social media pages.
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