Burn bans lifted from coastal counties beginning Nov. 16

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - Governor Tate Reeves announced Tuesday that the state’s partial burn ban will be lifted, effective Thursday, November 16.

The governor’s office made the decision in consultation with the Mississippi Forestry Commission (MFC) and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA).

The ban will be lifted in all coastal Mississippi counties, but some counties remains under burn bans. Those counties are: Attala, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Clay, Grenada, Humphreys, Itawamba, Kemper, Lafayette, Lee, Lowndes, Marshall, Monroe, Montgomery, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Panola, Pontotoc, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tishomingo, Union, Webster, Winston and Yalobusha.

“Due to the amount of rainfall received in parts of the state over the last week, the state has seen a decrease in wildfire activity,” a press release from the governor’s office read. “As a result of the rainfall, and the current weather forecast, the MFC requested for the burn ban to be lifted.”

The ban’s lifting comes after months of extreme drought and wildfires in Mississippi. According to the governor’s office, MFC wildland firefighters responded to 1,506 wildfire calls between August 1 and November 14, burning approximately 21,919 acres throughout the state.

These firefighters were able to help save over 2,679 structures from damage or destruction. The governor’s office says the extent of the fires would have been much higher without the bans in place.

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