Century Continues To Burn 2016 Tornado Debris

April 14, 2017

Over the past month, the Town of Century has burned just over half of the vegetative debris that was left behind when an EF-3 tornado that ripped through town on February 15, 2016. The process, according to Mayor Henry Hawkins, has been slightly delayed by rain.

The downed trees and limbs were transported to an empty lot in the town’s industrial park. Piles were created for burning out of about 800 dump truck loads of trees and other vegetative debris from the tornado.

The first of those piles was burned Tuesday, March 14. Town employees are burning the piles under permits issued daily from the Florida Forest Service.

NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.

Comments

5 Responses to “Century Continues To Burn 2016 Tornado Debris”

  1. Jim Stanton on April 15th, 2017 3:47 pm

    I don’t believe that the .96 inch of rain for Century is correct. I remember getting more rain than that on April 3rd. I’m about a mile from where the debris is being burned, I checked the rainfall on my weather station here at the house, which is part of the Weather Underground Network back 30 days it has 3.36 inches including two good rains the last few days of March. The Weather Bug station at Byrneville has 2.13 inches just going back to April 1. Most weather services including local TV stations get their data from official sources. For Century it’s the two stations at Whiting Field, KNSE (north) or KNDZ (south) neither of which I consider close to Century.

  2. Weather man on April 14th, 2017 1:28 pm

    For the record there has been only .96 inches of rain reported at 32535 for the past month.

    https://weather.com/weather/monthly/l/32535:4:US

  3. Retired on April 14th, 2017 1:01 pm

    @My Thoughts
    Point taken. Glad you are defending them all. I often take the same stance myself, and the call for volunteers is great. I agree

    Yes it is easy to make an armchair “quarter back” observation but perhaps it can bring up a healthy discussion.

    A little over site and reporting of problems is also a good thing too.

    A group of engaged citizens is a large part of the whole process of this thing called our town. It is normal and healthy that we have different ways of looking at things and what is important to each of us. That is the way of the world.

    I actually do not think I could run the equipment under OSHA regulations as you suggested and yes, I do hope that perhaps the employees at least got the piles done and can turn in the equipment. Hey for all I know they already did. What is the point of the article anyway, a heads up before the meeting on Monday before the town council asking for more $$$? Probably.

    Perhaps we could do a huge Easter Bon Fire!!
    Bring on the weenies and the marshmallows.

    Couldn’t the Fire Dept just go over there and torch it or does that make too much sense???

  4. My Thoughts on April 14th, 2017 6:14 am

    To “Retired”
    You also have to remember the town employees have other jobs and responsibilities to do plus this additional task. So I would suggest you choose your task wisely. Would you rather your water, gas and road services to be stopped, debris to be burned or worry if the town has the equipment for a week longer than you expect. They are working as fast as they can and also can not predict the weather as it stated above “delayed due to rain”. I am sure if you would like to run this “piece” of equipment your referring to, speak to Mayor Hawkins and volunteering your time would be greatly appreciated.

  5. Retired on April 14th, 2017 1:14 am

    A while back we rode over and looked at the piles before the burning started. This is not official but I would think if any of you wanted some fire wood or logs you could drive up and get them. It was all good clean tree wood with no housing debris mostly. It is on industrial drive. The town rented that piece of equipment for a large sum of money. The town should have used it this month and not expect another rental. Get
    it done. I think it cost about 5K for the month.