LITTLE ROCK, Ark – Since the Fourth of July, 46 Arkansas counties have issued a ban on open, outdoor burning. Monday, Lonoke, Crawford, Crittenden, Lee, Woodruff, Sebastian, Newton, Montgomery, Nevada and Ouachita counties were added to the list.
Friday morning, Perry & Yell counties were added to the list.
Thursday morning, Burn Bans were issued for Pulaski, Logan, Monroe, and Pike counties.
Burns bans will likely continue to be issued all over Arkansas as high heat and drought conditions create an increasing fire hazard.
By Wednesday afternoon. the number of counties under a burn ban was up to 25, mostly in the northern part of the state, with Franklin, Johnson, Carroll, Marion, Searcy, Stone, Izard, Fulton, Sharp, Cross, Lawrence, Faulkner, Independence, White and Greene counties added to Tuesday’s list.
To the west, Polk and Howard counties also declared burn bans.
Tuesday burn bans were set in eight counties: Pope, Van Buren, Cleburne, Polk, Madison, Randolph, Craighead and Poinsett.
Faulkner County in central Arkansas is the most recent to declare a burn ban.
The Arkansas counties under burn ban as of noon on July 7 include:
- Carroll
- Clay
- Cleburne
- Columbia
- Craighead
- Crawford
- Crittenden
- Cross
- Faulkner
- Franklin
- Fulton
- Greene
- Hempstead
- Howard
- Independence
- Izard
- Jackson
- Lawrence
- Lee
- Logan
- Lonoke
- Johnson
- Madison
- Marion
- Miller
- Mississippi
- Monroe
- Montgomery
- Nevada
- Newton
- Ouachita
- Perry
- Pike
- Poinsett
- Polk
- Pope
- Pulaski
- Randolph
- Searcy
- Sebastian
- Sharp
- Stone
- Van Buren
- White
- Woodruff
- Yell
Arkansas Forestry has the north and west of the state under a moderate wildfire risk. The National Drought Information System has 42.4% of Arkansas under “abnormally dry” conditions, 13.6% of Arkansas in a “moderate” drought, and 0.5% of Arkansas (in far northern Fulton, Sharp, and Randolph counties) in a “severe” drought. A new drought monitor will be released Thursday morning.
