Tippah County’s burn ban is no longer just a request. The Mississippi Forestry Commission has added Tippah to its official list of counties under an active burn ban, meaning no outdoor burning of any kind is currently allowed anywhere in the county.
The move follows through on what the Tippah County Board of Supervisors and the county’s volunteer fire departments asked for on Friday, Sept. 18, when they requested a 30-day ban as drought conditions worsened across the county. For two days the request sat in limbo, with county officials asking residents to stop burning voluntarily while they waited on the state. That wait is over: Tippah now appears alongside a dozen other Mississippi counties on the forestry commission’s active list.
Thirteen counties, mostly in north Mississippi
According to the Mississippi Forestry Commission, the counties currently under an active burn ban are Benton, Calhoun, Grenada, Humphreys, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lee, Marshall, Monroe, Sunflower, Tate and Tippah. Most of the list is concentrated in north Mississippi, and Tippah is now surrounded by bans on every side that matters locally — Benton, Marshall, Tate and Lee are all on the same list, meaning the dry conditions behind this ban are a regional problem, not just a Tippah County one.
The forestry commission, which posted the updated county map to its Facebook page and burn ban page at MFC.MS.GOV, says a burn ban means no outdoor burning of any kind while it’s in effect, with only a narrow set of exemptions — among them commission operations, certified burn managers, county fire services, commercial contractors meeting state environmental regulations, and agricultural field burns. Anyone unsure whether an activity qualifies should check MFC.MS.GOV or call the commission before striking a match.
What it means, and what it costs to ignore
With the ban now official, violating it is a misdemeanor carrying a fine of $100 to $500, enforced locally by the Tippah County Sheriff’s Department. The forestry commission says its bans expire at midnight on their stated expiration date; based on the timeline of the county’s request, Tippah’s is expected to run roughly 30 days from Sept. 18, meaning into mid-October, though the commission can lift or extend county bans sooner as conditions change. Residents with questions about what is and isn’t allowed can contact the Board of Supervisors or their local volunteer fire department.
The ban comes as Tippah County has gone from drought-free in mid-August to abnormally dry countywide, with much of the county already in moderate drought. Conditions aren’t expected to ease until a cold front moves through the region later this week brings the first real chance of rain.
For the latest on the drought and how it’s affecting Tippah County, visit Tippah News’ Tippah County News and Ripley News category pages.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
