When wildfires devastated parts of Oklahoma last March, only one county was under a burn ban, despite historic fire weather. That lone ban may not have been enforceable, because it didn't meet all the requirements in existing Oklahoma law.
Now, Senate Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, is proposing a bill that would give county commissioners more leeway to issue bans.
"Their hands are pretty well tied when the burn bans are actually enforceable," Paxton said during Monday's Senate Agriculture and Wildlife Committee meeting. "So we rely on the governor to issue a burn ban, and it's kind of been the standard of this governor not to issue burn bans."
The law that allows county commissioners to issue burn bans has specific requirements: temperatures over 100 degrees or the presence of "exceptional fire danger."
To qualify for "exceptional fire danger" under the law, the county must meet all three of these conditions:
- Less than half an inch of rain forecast over the next three days
- More fires, more extreme fires, or more escaped fires than normal are happening in the county
- A severe, extreme or exceptional drought designation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The drought requirement is what hamstrung counties last year. Paxton's Senate Bill 1550 would make it less stringent, allowing commissioners to issue a burn ban if the county has any form of drought designation.
It would also give county commissioners the power to issue a seven-day burn ban at their discretion, regardless of statutory requirements. Doing so would require unanimous approval from all commissioners.
The most recent version of the bill also protects county commissioners from being sued based on a burn ban vote or lack thereof.
After last year's fires and staffing changes at the Oklahoma Forestry Services, Gov. Kevin Stitt assembled a task force, the Wildland Fire Working Group, to identify problems and possible solutions in the state's wildfire protocols.
Working with lawmakers to change county burn ban requirements was among possibilities the group discussed, according to Secretary of Agriculture Blayne Arthur.
"We want to make sure that it makes sense for everyone," Arthur said in May 2025. "So that it is a useful tool for county commissioners and our folks at the local level, but also being cognizant of how that could also impact ag producers and the ability to use prescribed fire."
Paxton, who has decades of volunteer firefighting experience, said the existing statute includes protections for Oklahoma producers, and his bill does not seek to change that.
"If and in the event that there is a burn ban in place, a farmer or rancher can go ahead and do a prescribed burn as long as they get permission from the county and follow all the rules that are set up in the current statute," Paxton said.
The Senate Agriculture and Wildlife Committee voted unanimously to advance the measure, which can now be considered by the full Senate.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
