The Georgia Forestry Commission has asked most counties in north Georgia not to issue burns permits because of the dry weather.
The impacted area is the GFC's Coosa District, which stretches eastward from Alabama to the Carolinas and north-to-south from Tennessee and the Carolinas to Walton and Oconee counties.
"We have asked each County Unit in the District to not issue permits until we see an appreciable change in fire weather or conditions," District Director Ken Masten said in an email. "This means that we will not issue permits for the type burns that are regulated under the open burn permit law. This permit law does not cover campfires, cooking fires, warming fires or any other burning that is not tied to the open burning of natural, untreated vegetation to include brush/leaf piles, land clearing piles and acreage burns for disposal of natural vegetation, land clearing or land management objectives."
The yearly summertime ban on outdoor burning, which has nothing to do with dry weather but is aimed a reducing pollution and damage to the ozone layer, ended Septmber 30.
