Friday's high winds led the city of Hot Springs to issue a burn ban inside the city retroactive to Thursday.
All open burning is prohibited, and burn permits the Hot Springs Fire Department issued prior to Thursday are no longer valid.
County Judge Darryl Mahoney said Friday that no burn ban was in effect for the unincorporated area of the county.
"I haven't had a request from any of our local fire departments," he said, noting no other counties had a burn ban in effect. "We may change it at the eleventh hour, but right now we have not."
The National Weather Service reported wind gusts of up to 35 mph in Hot Springs Friday. Wind speeds of 5 to 10 mph were forecast for today and Sunday. No measurable rain had been reported at Hot Springs Memorial Field since the 2.21 inches that accumulated Jan. 6 and 7.
"We want to be sure we get some moisture in here," Hot Springs Fire Chief Ed Davis said Friday. "With the freezing temperatures drying out the ground cover and then having high winds (Friday) on top of that will dry it out even more. Even without the winds, you could still have some brush fires this weekend until we get a substantial rain. We wanted to err on the side of caution and make sure we don't have an uncontrolled fire.
"We're afraid that with the high winds, especially in the woodland areas, it would be pretty easy for a fire to spread."
The Arkansas Forestry Commission reported a drought index of 10 Friday in the six-county district that includes Garland County. The zero-to-800 scale is an index of ground moisture, with zero signifying no moisture depletion and 800 extreme drought conditions. The reading is taken in Grant County.