By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – Missouri's State Fire Marshal wants the governor to have the authority to issue state-wide burn bans.
Right now, only local-level officials in Missouri have the authority to ban burning in their jurisdictions.
State Fire Marshal Randy Cole thinks the governor should have the same authority.
"To try to avoid some catastrophic fires in relation to wild land fires...so we're attempting to draft legislation," Cole said.
Similar bills were filed during the last two regular sessions, but they died because lawmakers didn't vote on them before time ran out.
Cole hopes the paperwork can be filed earlier for next year's session, which starts in January.
"Criteria would be established by my office and Dept. of Conservation to place a burn ban on a specific area to have some degree of enforcement...in case someone does violate that burn ban, then they could be charged with a crime," Cole said.