A no outdoor burning ban that Clinton County has been under for just over three weeks was lifted on Tuesday morning.

Judge/Executive Richard Armstrong, who had issued the burn ban via Executive Order on Monday, November 7, issued a statement Tuesday morning, November 29 stating, “Due to sufficient rainfall, Clinton County Judge/Executive Richard C. Armstrong has issued an Executive Order…to lift the ban of outside burning in Clinton County.

However, the state order of outside burning is still in effect until December 15, between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.,” local prevailing time.

The state burn ban is standard during the annual fire hazard season that runs through most of the fall months. That law prohibits burning within 150 feet of a woodland area during the designated times listed above.

The outdoor burn ban that had previously been in effect prohibited outdoor burning of any nature due to the extreme dry conditions and abnormally high temperatures.

Because of the lack of rainfall, several woodland and brush fires kept firefighters in Clinton County and the entire region on high alert and busy battling the fires. And the drought conditions also caused several acres of forest land to be damaged or destroyed by wildfire over the past several weeks.

The original ban levied earlier this month noted there would be “no outdoor burning in Clinton County” until sufficient rainfall lessened the chance of wildfire.

The much needed relief came exactly three weeks from when the ban was lifted, on Monday, November 28, when a large amount of rain, sometimes heavy, came down across Clinton County and most of Kentucky from early Monday afternoon and especially throughout most of the night and early morning hours on Tuesday.

In addition, the National Weather Service on Tuesday was predicting another moderate chance of rain for late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning of this week.