Burn ban extended, again, for central and western Nebraska to May 20

LINCOLN — Gov. Jim Pillen on Friday extended a burn ban for central and western Nebraska for another 10-day period, through midnight on May 20.

The new executive order renews a previous mandate prohibiting permitted burns in central and western Nebraska that was set to end at midnight on May 10. Burns have been prohibited in the affected areas since April 23. A subsequent executive order, on April 29, lifted the ban for eastern Nebraska. Burns remain prohibited where the National Weather Service has issued an active red flag warning.

‘We need Mother Nature’: Pillen enacts burn ban amid raging fire in north-central Nebraska

On May 1, Pillen granted fire chiefs discretion in granting burn permits to irrigation districts to clear vegetation from ditches, which remains in effect. Burning must be supervised on-site by the permitting authority.

The initial burn ban came after a prescribed fire got out of control April 21 in the Plum Creek area near Johnstown in Brown County.

The entire state is in “abnormally dry” to “extreme drought” conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The burn ban runs south along U.S. Highway 81 from the South Dakota border to Highway 92. It then goes west to U.S. Highway 281 and runs south to the Kansas border.

A total of 62 counties are in the burn ban, 10 of which face partial bans (denoted by asterisks): Adams*, Antelope, Arthur, Banner, Blaine, Boone, Box Butte, Boyd, Brown, Buffalo, Cedar*, Chase, Cherry, Cheyenne, Custer, Dawes, Dawson, Deuel, Dundy, Franklin, Frontier, Furnas, Garden, Garfield, Gosper, Grant, Greeley, Hall*, Harlan, Hayes, Hitchcock, Holt, Hooker, Howard*, Kearney, Keith, Keya Paha, Kimball, Knox, Lincoln, Logan, Loup, Madison*, McPherson, Merrick*, Morrill, Nance, Perkins, Phelps, Pierce*, Platte*, Polk*, Red Willow, Rock, Scotts Bluff, Sheridan, Sherman, Sioux, Thomas, Valley, Webster* and Wheeler.