Officials urge Texans to take burn bans seriously as drought continues
JOHNSON COUNTY (CBSNewsTexas.com) - The Texas A&M Forest Service is warning Texans that the triple-digit temperatures and little to no rainfall have created dry conditions that are increasing the likelihood of wildfires. In Johnson County, they've had more than 80 grass fires this month alone.
When it's this dry and hot out, even a chain dragging from a truck can spark a fire.
"When you're in a drought and you have heat like this, fires that do start and do get out of control do require a lot of additional resources," said Jamie Moore, the Johnson County emergency management director.
Johnson County has had a burn ban in effect since July 10. But, according to the Johnson County Office of Emergency Management, there have been more than 80 grass fires across the county since Aug. 1. And many of them are caused by people ignoring the burn ban.
"People either aren't aware or choose to ignore that we have a burn ban and since Aug. 1 we have had 67 illegal burns, so we're averaging about three a day really," said Moore.
Moore says these fires tend to get out of hand quickly and require extra resources to contain. Early this month, the Double Back Fire in Godley took over a week to contain.
"The Double Back Fire in Godley that burned 1300 acres was a preventable fire," said Moore. "Unfortunately, it was started from somebody welding right next to dry and dead grass."
"It's extremely frustrating because when you have weather like this, and you have to fight so many fires," said Moore. "It really wears out the guys that are responding."
"It's definitely been one of the more challenging summers I think we've had," said Brendan Burke, a firefighter-paramedic with the Keene Fire Department. "We've seen more fires that you would typically have an easy time controlling, getting out of hand quicker and requiring more resources than we'd normally anticipate."
The fires have put a strain on fire department personnel and resources.
"When you do have departments going out on these fires, there's also other calls to respond to as well. So, when you have these large fires that are allocating a lot of resources, you're also putting a strain in that area for any other type of call that may come out," said Burke. "You're definitely seeing departments trying to allocate resources better, try to increase staffing."
That's why they try to educate the community about how dangerous burning trash and other debris can be.
"A lot of people don't realize how dangerous it can actually be. They don't realize how quickly these fuels can ignite and how quickly they can spread," said Burke.
If you're caught intentionally starting a fire in Johnson County, you could be issued a citation from the Sheriff's office.
