![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/634732459_1227706199546568_5722270983057337818_n.webp?resize=1024%2C537&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nPolk County currently sits at an average of 530 on the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI), with 66% of the county above the 500 mark. The KBDI assesses the soil\u2019s moisture content from no moisture deficiency (0) to maximum drought conditions (800).<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/634653768_1227706242879897_6491329805594288182_n.webp?resize=1024%2C537&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe ban includes unincorporated Polk County and the following municipalities: Auburndale, Bartow, Davenport, Dundee, Fort Meade, Frostproof, Haines City, Lake Alfred, Lake Wales, Lakeland, and Winter Haven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The burn ban prohibits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Campfires;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Bonfires;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Unpermitted controlled burns;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Burning of yard and household trash;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Burning of organic debris;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Igniting of fireworks; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Noncommercial burning of materials, other than for religious or ceremonial purposes, which is not contained in a barbecue grill or barbecue pit, and the total fuel area cannot exceed 3 feet in diameter and 2 feet in height.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyone who refuses to comply or violates this burn ban is in violation of Polk County Ordinance 08-015 and can be punished by a fine not to exceed $500 or by imprisonment not to exceed 60 days in the county jail or both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Polk County officials will repeal the burn ban when deemed safe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After the recent uptick of brush fires, Polk County Fire Rescue wants to remind everyone that the countywide burn ban remains in effect. Following the burn ban is important as… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDJcLzYzNDczMjQ1OV8xMjI3NzA2MTk5NTQ2NTY4XzU3MjIyNzA5ODMwNTczMzc4MThfbi53ZWJwP2ZpdD0xMDI0JTJDNTM3JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiQWZ0ZXIgdGhlIHJlY2VudCB1cHRpY2sgb2YgYnJ1c2ggZmlyZXMsIFBvbGsgQ291bnR5IEZpcmUgUmVzY3VlIHdhbnRzIHRvIHJlbWluZCBldmVyeW9uZSB0aGF0IHRoZSBjb3VudHl3aWRlIGJ1cm4gYmFuIHJlbWFpbnMgaW4gZWZmZWN0IiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.knEQQkI_9Ig9SbAxFXbnXuEOIT1glxbHxsLu8BINkVcMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":62584,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/634732459_1227706199546568_5722270983057337818_n.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[13644,13645],"class_list":["post-62583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-after-the-recent-uptick-of-brush-fires","tag-polk-county-fire-rescue-wants-to-remind-everyone-that-the-countywide-burn-ban-remains-in-effect"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62586,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62583\/revisions\/62586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}