Jack County Burn Ban: Rules, Penalties, and Reporting

A Jack County burn ban is in effect when the Commissioners Court has issued an order restricting outdoor burning in the unincorporated parts of the county because of drought or other wildfire risk. Any order can run up to 90 days, and burning in violation of one is a Class C misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $500.¹² Because the status can change quickly, check before you light anything.

How to Check the Current Status

The quickest statewide source is the Texas A&M Forest Service burn ban page, which keeps a regularly updated map of all 254 Texas counties and offers a downloadable image and text file listing each county’s status.³ If your land sits near a county line, this is the easiest way to see whether the rules differ on the other side.

For local confirmation, the Jack County government website posts Commissioners Court orders, including disaster declarations and burn restrictions. You can also call the Jack County Sheriff’s Office at (940) 567-2161.

Emergency Alerts

Jack County uses the Hyper-Reach notification system to send alerts directly to residents. Register by entering your address and choosing cell phone, landline, or email. The system automatically calls listed landlines for community alerts, but weather alerts on a landline and any notification sent to a cell phone require manual sign-up.⁴

What a Burn Ban Prohibits

An order applies only in the unincorporated parts of the county. Cities inside Jack County set their own rules, so if you live within an incorporated boundary, check with that city.¹

The Commissioners Court can ban all outdoor burning or target specific activities and substances.¹ A typical order covers burning household trash, brush piles, cleared vegetation, or construction debris in open piles or barrels; traditional campfires and portable fire pits without a sealed combustion chamber; and any other activity that produces an open spark or flame in an unenclosed outdoor setting.

What’s Still Allowed

The statute carves out specific exceptions that remain legal even during an active ban. Each has conditions attached.

Outdoor grills and smokers, if the device fully contains the flame. Keep a working lid on the unit and clear dry grass, leaves, and brush from the surrounding area.
Firefighter training burns authorized by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
Work by public utility companies, natural gas pipeline operators, and mining operations involving heat or flame, when TCEQ-authorized.
Burning tied to planting or harvesting crops, when TCEQ-authorized.
Controlled burns conducted by a certified and insured prescribed burn manager under the standards in the Natural Resources Code.

All of these come directly from the statute.¹ The prescribed burn exception is not something a landowner can improvise: certification requires three years of experience, 30 days of burn time, and at least $1 million in per-occurrence liability insurance.⁵

Separately, Texas has statewide TCEQ rules on outdoor burning that apply year-round outside city limits, with requirements on time of day, wind speed, distance from occupied structures, and prohibited materials like plastics, treated lumber, and tires.⁶ Those rules apply whether or not a burn ban is in place, so a lifted ban is not a green light to burn anything, anywhere, anytime.

Fireworks During Drought

A different section of state law lets the Commissioners Court restrict the sale and use of certain fireworks when drought conditions exist. The restriction reaches skyrockets with sticks and missiles with fins, and the drought threshold is a Keetch-Byram Drought Index reading of 575 or higher. Violating a fireworks order is also a Class C misdemeanor.⁷ Fireworks orders follow their own timelines tied to specific holidays. When a burn ban and a fireworks order are in effect at the same time, both sets of restrictions apply.

Penalties and Civil Liability

Burning in violation of an active order is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500. Each separate instance of illegal burning counts as its own offense.¹²

The fine is usually the least of it. If your fire escapes and damages a neighbor’s fencing, livestock, equipment, or land, you are on the hook for the full cost. Suppression bills can mount quickly in rural areas where volunteer departments call in mutual aid from surrounding counties. The $500 fine is small next to a civil judgment or an invoice for hours of fire suppression.

The statute also lets any person seek an injunction to stop a violation or threatened violation of a burn ban order.¹ A neighbor who believes you are about to burn in violation can go to court to stop you.

How Long a Ban Lasts

Each order must specify its duration, and that duration cannot exceed 90 days from the date the Commissioners Court adopts the order. The court can adopt a new order as soon as the previous one expires, which effectively extends the restriction for another 90 days. During prolonged droughts, rolling renewals can keep a ban active for many months.¹

A ban can end early. The Texas A&M Forest Service monitors drought conditions and notifies the county when drought conditions no longer exist, which automatically expires a drought-based order. If the ban was based on a general public safety finding rather than a drought determination, the Commissioners Court, county judge, or fire marshal can declare the hazard has passed.¹

Reporting a Violation

Call 911 for any active, unattended, or out-of-control fire. For non-emergency concerns, such as a neighbor burning brush during an active ban, call the Jack County Sheriff’s Office at (940) 567-2161. Deputies and fire marshals handle enforcement through patrols and response calls, and they can issue citations on the spot when they observe unauthorized burning.

1
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 352.081 – Regulation of Outdoor Burning
2
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.23 – Class C Misdemeanor
3
Texas A&M Forest Service. Burn Bans and Information
4
Hyper-Reach. Community Signup for County of Jack TX
5
Texas Department of Agriculture. Commercial Certified Prescribed Burn Manager
6
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Texas 30 TAC Chapter 111, Subchapter B – Outdoor Burning
7
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 352.051