Carbon County officials set the record straight that they did not officially issue a burn ban in the county; however, with dry conditions, refraining from burning is your best option to prevent an emergency.

During the county commissioners’ meeting on Thursday, Commissioner Wayne Nothstein announced that the county does not officially have a county-wide burn ban in place; but listed the municipalities that have issued a burn ban. Those municipalities include Lower Towamensing Township, Bowmanstown, East Penn Township, Mahoning Township, Jim Thorpe, Penn Forest, Nesquehoning and Summit Hill.

“Someone posted something on Facebook that wasn’t true and it spread like wildfire,” he said. “It was unbelievable.

“We have been watching it closely, the amount of fire calls, how dry it is, weather conditions, etc.,” he added. “If we declare a burn ban, we will be notifying the news media, we will be putting it over the radio and posting it on the county website.”

Nothstein added that hopefully the county will get some rain soon to help with the conditions.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner echoed Nothstein saying, “Just don’t burn.”

Current dry conditions can cause brush fires to start quickly, such as the recent one near Lehigh Gap Nature Center.