Hays County Burn Ban: What Does It Mean for Your Cedar and Brush Piles?
During a Hays County burn ban, the county order bans or limits outdoor burning in the unincorporated county. A brush pile from clearing cedar may have to wait. You can leave the pile until the order ends. Or you can have the cedar mulched in place, so there is no pile to burn.
Bans start and end, so check on the day you plan to burn. With no ban on, state air rules still set what you can burn and when. Inside city limits, city rules can ban burning too. This guide is education from public sources, not legal advice.
Intex Rock and Cedar Solutions does cedar clearing around Kyle and across the Hill Country. Cedar comes off mulched in place, or cut and pushed into burn piles for you. The piles are yours, and so is the choice of whether and when to burn them.
Who sets a burn ban in Hays County?
State law lets the county commissioners court ban or limit outdoor burning in the unincorporated area. The court can act during drought or for public safety. The Texas A and M Forest Service notes that a county judge can also put a ban in place.
State law defines drought conditions using the Keetch-Byram Drought Index. The Forest Service uses that index to give drought information to Texas county governments. The index runs from 0 to 800. Zero means no moisture lost from the soil, and 800 means absolutely dry conditions.
A burn ban order states how long it lasts, up to 90 days from the day it is adopted. A new order can take effect when the old one expires. An order also ends early once drought conditions no longer exist.
Where can you check the Hays County burn ban status today?
Check two places on the day you plan to burn. Hays County adopts the order, so the county has the final word. The Texas A and M Forest Service posts a statewide burn ban map.
If an order is on, read it. The law lets a county ban outdoor burning outright or set limits on it, and the order says which. The Forest Service adds a warning. Burning can be illegal or unsafe even when no burn ban is in effect.
What does a county burn ban cover, and what does it leave out?
A county order covers outdoor burning in the unincorporated parts of the county. State law leaves some burning outside any county order:
- Prescribed burns run by a burn manager who meets the state’s certification and insurance standards
- Firefighter training
- Public utility, natural gas pipeline or mining operations
- Planting or harvesting of agricultural crops
Whether a burn fits one of these is a question for the county. Knowingly or intentionally breaking a burn ban order is a Class C misdemeanor under state law.
The Forest Service says bans prohibit or restrict outdoor burning for public safety. It calls debris burning the number one cause of human-caused wildfires.
Can you burn brush inside city limits in Hays County?
A county burn ban covers the unincorporated county. Inside a city, city rules apply as well. State air rules make on-site burning subject to city ordinances that ban burning inside city limits.
San Marcos prohibits open burning of brush, trash or debris inside its city limits at all times. In Kyle, Buda, Dripping Springs, Wimberley or any other city, ask the city before you burn.
What does state law allow when no burn ban is on?
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) bans outdoor burning in Texas, with exceptions. One exception is on-site burning of trees, brush, grass, leaves, branch trimmings or other plant growth. The owner, or someone the owner authorizes, does the burning. The material must come only from that property.
In some counties, plant growth from land clearing may be burned only when no practical alternative to burning exists. Allowed burning must also meet these conditions:
| Condition | What the state rule says |
|---|---|
| Start | No earlier than one hour after sunrise |
| Finish | That day, no later than one hour before sunset |
| Attended | A responsible party stays with the fire while it burns |
| Wind | Do not start if wind is predicted under 6 mph or over 23 mph during the burn |
| Neighbors | Downwind of, or at least 300 feet from, occupied buildings on adjacent property, unless the occupant agrees in writing first |
| Never burned | Electrical insulation, treated lumber, plastics, non-wood construction or demolition material and similar items |
What should you do with cedar and brush piles during a burn ban?
If the order bars burning, the piles wait. Leave them where they are until the order ends. Or skip the pile and have the cedar and brush mulched in place.
Forestry mulching grinds cedar and brush where they stand and leaves the mulch on the ground. There is no pile, so there is nothing to burn later.
A Texas A and M guide to on-site brush pile burning has advice on how to build a pile. It suggests piles larger than a small car but smaller than a bus. It warns against piles under tree canopies, under power or transmission lines, or on buried or exposed gas lines.
For permits, Edwards Aquifer rules and city tree rules, see our guide to land clearing permits in Hays County.
What should you check before burning a pile once the ban lifts?
- Check Hays County and the Forest Service burn ban map that day.
- Inside a city, check the city’s rules.
- Check the wind forecast against the state’s 6 to 23 mph window.
- Notify the local fire department, as the Texas A and M brush pile guide advises.
- Keep water and tools close, and stay with the fire.
- Before you leave, the pile should be burned out or cold to the touch.
The same guide warns that large logs and trunks can smolder for weeks after the flames die down. It names April through June as the best time to burn piles, when the plants around them are green.
Need cedar cleared while a burn ban is on?
Intex mulches cedar in place or cuts it and pushes it into burn piles for you. During a ban, mulching leaves nothing to burn, and piles can wait until the order ends. We look at the land and put the quote in writing.
Call or text (737) 317-7625 for a free estimate on cedar clearing around Kyle. Intex also does land clearing in Kyle and across the Hill Country.