The burn ban ordinance approved by the Panola County Board of Supervisors two weeks remains in effect – and will until at least April 7.

Emergency Operations Director Daniel Cole asked for the burn ban declaration after a particularly busy weekend for volunteer fire departments when three fires of considerable size grew out of control in dry conditions with gusting winds.

Requests for ban buns by counties and cities are made to the Mississippi Forestry Commission who has the final decision. The Forestry Commission has several levels of bans, some that exclude agriculture and contractor conflagrations.

In Panola, the request was for a complete burn ban that covers all types of fires. It only affects the unincorporated areas of the county, meaning Batesville city limits (and of other towns) are not included.

Cole’s request was not popular with the supervisors, who hear complaints from landowners clearing property during bans, but agreed to the measure after hearing about the numerous fires.

“We burned up about three-fourths of the county and lost a structure or two, among other things like equipment, and we had no choice but to ask the board to request a ban,” Cole said. “We had to stop all burning because it was just too dangerous for the general public.”

Cole said volunteers from three counties (Tate, Panola, and Tunica) were worked to exhaustion battling fires that landowners thought they could control.

“With the winds we’ve had this spring, we just can’t take the chances of brush fires causing major damage,” he said. “We know people are anxious to get their yards and farms cleaned up for the spring, but we have to keep safety first.”

With a couple of days of rain in the past month, county officials hoped the need for keeping the burn ban would diminish, but firefighters were toned for several grass fires over the just-passed weekend as well.