AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – A week after the Belvedere Fire Department requested a burn ban, the Aiken County Council held an emergency meeting on the burn ban Monday night.

The council decided to approve the temporary burn ban, but only for the next two weeks.

The two-week limit is from Nov. 4 to Nov. 19 and that’s because that’s the next council meeting. They say they will review the ban again to see if it needs to continue.

They also said that if it rains a lot in the next few days, they could call another emergency meeting and decide to finish it faster.

This comes after a desperate plea from local firefighters, asking them to stop burning their rubble.

There is tons and tons of debris in almost every neighborhood and October was very dry.

“Since October 7, we have had no protection,” said Chad Hyler, chief of the Belvedere Fire Department.

They are trying to help and warn as many people as they can.

“The calls we get and the messages we get through social media are people who are honestly afraid to go to sleep at night because of people burning 24 hours a day,” he said.

It’s been more than a month since Hurricane Helene hit and debris is still piled up on the sides of the roads.

While people wait for it to be cleaned up, some are taking matters into their own hands.

“We have almost $50,000 worth of property on record that has already burned due to illegal burning, sheds burned, tractor trailers, different properties burned on other people’s property, not whether they intended to do it or not, but just for us. It dries up and they test us, and then it revives, you know, another day or two,” Hyler said.

It can get dangerous quickly, but there’s only so much they can do, especially if people claim they have a permit.

“There’s a lot we can do,” he said. “We can’t break in and put out someone’s fire. They tell us they have a burning permit. We have no way of knowing if they do it or not, so we have to trust that they do it.”

Therefore, they have been asking officials for help.

“We need some law enforcement, you know, to back up when people do these things illegally,” Hyler said.

Over the weekend, firefighters announced there would be a meeting to discuss the request on Monday at 5 p.m., followed by a full meeting at 5:15.

Weeks after Hurricane Helene, we still haven’t seen a substantial amount of rain.

With piles of debris along the CSRA, they are likely to become fire starters.

“We do need some enforcement when people do this illegally, but as of today, we still have not received assistance on any of those calls, other than requesting an emergency burn ban through county council,” Hyler said.

Hyler adds that they have no way of knowing if someone has a legal no-burn-debris permit in their home, adding to the number of uncontrolled fires that can cause even more devastation.

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