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Lake Grapevine Brush Fire Halts Bike Race

January 18, 2014 / 3:26 PM CST / CBS Texas

This story was updated at 9:05 p.m. on Jan. 18

LAKE GRAPEVINE (CBS 11 NEWS) - Several brush fires in Flower Mound kept firefighters busy Saturday, with one blaze creeping uncomfortably close to a mountain bike race.

A small brush fire near the north shore of Lake Grapevine was discovered by firefighters who were nearby, treating an injured cyclist.

The flames caused the mountain bike race to come to a stop, and the large number of people and cars in the area created problems for additional responding units to reach the fire.

In total, about 45 people from Flower Mound and Grapevine fire departments responded. It took about an hour to get the 15-acre fire under control.

At one point the fire was only a few hundred yards from residential homes, but was brought under control before any serious damage was done.

Fire investigators are now trying to determine the cause. Flower Mound Fire Chief Eric Metzger said he has an idea of what happened.

"We have extreme wildfire potential for today and more often than not it's human-caused," Metzger said. "There's no power lines out here, no other reason for it to have caught fire so we'll be looking at those causes."

Metzger added that the grass essentially "freeze-dried" over the cold days in DFW, making it perfect for catching fire. Thankfully, he said, there were no high winds during Saturday's blaze.

Over the past few days, low humidity, warm temperatures, brisk winds and tinder-dry bush have set the stage for wild fires. It prompted the National Weather Service to issue a grass fire warning Saturday morning.

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