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By EMMA HERWEHE
More than a dozen counties in Indiana are currently reporting active burn bans.
The counties are mostly in the Southern half of the state, including Monroe, Bartholomew, Lawrence and Martin.
Monroe County's burn ban began at 4 p.m. Monday and will end in a week on Nov. 20. The burn ban is being issued due to the ongoing dry condition and high fire risk.
When a burn ban is in place, there is a restriction on outdoor burning, such as burning piles of leaves or any outdoor fires.
Andrew White, National Weather Service Indianapolis meteorologist, said the burn bans in place are a result of recent dry weather conditions that would allow for a fire to spread quicker if it were to get out of hand.
He said additional counties could go under a burn ban soon.
“Unfortunately for the weather looking very dry for the next week or so, we could see additional counties go under a burn ban here in the next week, especially with the conditions being very dangerous here the next two days with the dry air and wind,” White said.
Burn bans are managed at the state level. The Department of Homeland Security works with individual county emergency managers to decide when it is unsafe to burn.
The individual counties decide when it is safe to come off the burn ban, which could happen after one good rain, for example.
The DHS website is consistently updating the state’s burn ban status.
(This story has been updated to include Monroe County.)
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