St. Johns County outlines drought risks, hydrant-inspection change and spring yard-waste rules

St. Johns County officials summarized drought-related public-safety steps and solid-waste guidance after a recent Board of County Commissioners meeting, urging residents to conserve water, sign up for emergency alerts and follow curbside setout rules during the spring "March Madness" yard-waste season.

Wayne Larson, director of public affairs for St. Johns County, said the county and the National Weather Service briefed commissioners on "pretty extreme drought conditions" that have elevated wildfire risk. He urged residents to check irrigation systems, postpone yard burning where rules require, avoid parking on dry grass and call 911 immediately if they see smoke. "You can follow St. John's County emergency management on their Facebook page" or sign up for Alert St. Johns emergency notifications, he said.

Larson also said the county reassigned routine fire-hydrant inspections to its Water Utilities department to improve operational efficiency. "We found a new more efficient way to check these fire hydrants," Larson said, adding that Water Utilities has "a dedicated team of four or five employees" inspecting the county's more than 5,000 hydrants. Officials said the change has freed roughly 12,000 staff hours for St. John's County Fire Rescue so crews are less likely to be pulled from hydrant checks while responding to emergencies.

On solid-waste operations, Ben Bright, assistant director of public works, explained the county's spring yard-waste guidance: "The material needs to be less than six feet in length and less than 50 pounds as a single item." Bright said March and April typically bring double or triple the setouts seen in winter months, creating higher volumes for haulers.

Ashley Mikler, customer service business manager for Solid Waste, described how residents report missed collections and other issues: the county logs calls and app reports in its Cityworks database and forwards service requests to contractor FCC Environmental, which the county says is contractually responsible to resolve issues within 24 hours and for staff to follow up with callers.

Mikler promoted the county's Recycle Coach app as a tool for residents to find their service calendar, sign up for alerts and even take a photo of an item to learn whether it is recyclable or where to drop it off. She also listed the county's two transfer stations (Tilman Ridge and Stratton Road), provided addresses and said the facilities accept corrugated cardboard, household hazardous waste, electronics and appliances, but not construction debris; small fees apply for some paints and fluorescent bulbs.

Officials highlighted community programs, including an American Flag Rescue collection program and the Adopt-a-Road volunteer effort; the county's road-and-bridge division collects about a ton of litter per week, staff said.

For solid-waste questions or to sign up for alerts, officials gave the Solid Waste phone number, 904-827-6980, and the email solidwaste@sjcfl.us and encouraged residents to visit recyclejohns.com and download the Recycle Coach app. The radio segment closed with a reminder that these steps are intended to reduce fire risk, keep collection operations safe and improve service reliability for individual residents.