Right now, local pastures are a tinderbox.
Hence emergency management director Jason Trego said that due to high winds, the threat of grassland fires on Tuesday was an “extreme danger,” and today the danger is “very high.”
Trego noted “we did get several grass fires over the weekend,” including one accidentally started by a welder. Trego explained how the dispatch center uses satellite data to track the blazes.
“At one point we had every fire department out,” added 911 director Chelsie Angleton.
Fire chief Chase Waggoner shared the concerns over the possibility of more grass fires as well, so commissioners agreed to enact a burn ban lasting until midnight tonight.
“Caution prevails here,” said commissioner Jerry Daniels in reference to the action.
Additionally, Trego mentioned that the column between Yates Center and Burlington is expected to be hardest hit by upcoming weather.
This observation dovetailed into a discussion of storm shelters and what the best option might be for procuring them around the county.
Jessica Thompson, director of development at Thrive Allen County, said that new Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds would soon be available, and that shelters were again going to be included as an eligible item for such projects.
She added that shelters were once a very popular CDBG item, and said she believed the county had a very good chance of procuring the funds given its unincorporated communities.
The goal is to obtain a larger grant that would enable the purchase of up to seven individual shelters at the same time, where the possible locations for them include: Allen County Regional Airport, Carlyle, Elsmore, Mildred, Petrolia and Savonburg.
Commissioners approved pursuit of the grant, though lamented that it was too late in the year to take action on installing shelters before the upcoming storm season.
Thompson also spoke with commissioners about their existing and new transportation programs.
“Thrive’s existing program is exceeding expectations,” she said, with 61 round trips taken by residents so far (both in-county and out).
Thompson predicted, however, that this is only the beginning, and that “we’re going to see demand explode.”
