Breckenridge Texan

After several days of badly needed rain in the area, Stephens County Commissioners voted Monday at their regular meeting to lift the countywide burn ban.

During the meeting, Breckenridge Fire Chief Calvin Chaney recommended lifting the ban because conditions in the area had improved following the rains in area during the past few days.

However, he cautioned that people who are wanting to burn brush still need to call the fire department at 254-559-6242 before burning so the fire department is aware of the burning in their area. He also said brush is the only thing that people are allowed to burn and that there is no burning allowed after dark or within the city limits.

Cheney told the commissioners that the City of Breckenridge had a large pile of brush at its convenience station they needed to burn. He said the pile, which was about 300 feet long, was debris from storm damage that had been collected during the past two years and that it included whole trees.

He said the city has been unable to burn the pile of brush for two years because of the dry conditions that have persisted in the area and the burn ban that was in place.

Once the burn ban was lifted Monday, the City began burning the brush at the Convenience Station on the Industrial Loop. Chaney said the City’s brush burning was considered a controlled burn that had to be approved by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Story by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan

Cutline, top photo: The Breckenridge Fire Department watches over a large pile of brush on fire at the City’s Convenience Station. The 300-foot long pile was burned by the fire department as a controlled burn following the lifting of the fire ban on Monday. Most of debris in the pile came from previous storm damage during the past two years, but because of the dry conditions in the area they were unable to burn the pile. The controlled burn had to be approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)