Burn ban issued for Washington County community due to lack of rain

NORTH FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, Pa. — After weeks without a soaking rain in North Franklin Township, Washington County, Bob Sabot, the Chair of the Board of Supervisors and the Emergency Management Coordinator, issued an emergency burn ban.

“We’re sitting on a tinderbox here,” Sabot said. “What I told the county today was I felt we were in a dangerous situation and I said that I’m fearful that something could occur.”

Normally, burning is allowed in the township on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

On Saturday, Sabot says a resident was burning garbage and the fire quickly and unintentionally spread.

“It got out of control and multiple fire companies had to be called and the house almost burned down of the residents because of it,” Sabot said.

After that, Sabot issued the ban on all burning, including fire pits, garbage, and even fireworks.

That includes fireworks at Washington Wild Things games.

“We’re not trying to stop people from having a good time, but we’re just in a situation right now where one little thing could cause a really big thing,” Sabot explained.

Yards and fields are brown and burned out.

Residents are concerned about the lack of rain.

“I can’t recall the last time we had like an all-day or a good soaking rain. It hasn’t been six weeks, maybe two months. It’s the driest I’ve ever seen in quite a while,” Carl, a Washington County resident told Channel 11.

According to WPXI Meteorologist Scott Harbaugh, Washington County is in a moderate drought and likely won’t see any rain until at least this weekend.

“Washington County has been under a moderate drought for several weeks now,” Harbaugh said. “Last week, a lot of areas got thunderstorms, got two to three inches of rain, some areas got rain from the remnants of Debby. Most of Washington County got nothing, so it’s been a pretty bad situation at least since the early part of July.”

The North Franklin Township Supervisors are expected to ratify the burn ban at their meeting Tuesday night.

Tuesday is also normally a day where burning is allowed, but the township code enforcement officers will be out making sure that’s not happening.

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