Texas is a tinderbox--dry, windy, and ready to explode in a burst of flame.
According to the Texas Forest Service, October of 2010 to April of 2011 was the driest seven-month period recorded in Texas history. Volunteer Texas firefighters and the Texas Forest Service are currently responding to 17 large fires that have burned over 145,633 acres as of their latest update on June 22, 2011. The Bearing Fire in Polk and Trinity counties has burned 20,222 acres, and it's still only 60% contained in spite of an hour of rain the day before. Two homes and six hunting cabins were lost in the fire.
The Dyer Mill fire continues to roar through Grimes County, Texas. Residents were evacuated from 1800 homes on June 21, 2011. The fire has already consumed 32 homes and 80 homes are immediately threatened as frantic homeowners watch helplessly from evacuation shelters. The fast-moving fire, three miles east of Whitehall, had burned through 5280 acres at the time of this publication.
According to Jason Curry, Public Information Officer with the Texas Forest Service, a Type II Management team arrived on June 21, 2011 to coordinate firefighting operations on these two fires and the Power Line Fire, which burned 3500 acres, though the Power Line Fire is nearing 100 percent containment. The three fires are referred to as the East Texas Complex and they are managed through the coordinated efforts of two inter-agency fire management teams.
"The purpose of the Type II Management Team is to free up time for the firefighters to battle the fires," Curry said. "We have people from around the country on these teams who work on managing these fires, ordering and directing crews to certain areas and planning long rage objectives. We also have experts on fire behavior."
Curry explained that although the East Texas Complex currently has 230 firefighters, managers, and other personnel with access to two Blackhawk helicopters, but most of the work is done with bulldozers and fire engines.
The reason for the use of bulldozers and fire engines, according to Texas Forest Service Spokesperson Lee McNeely, is that the fire crews are not using water, though they do have access to some water for firefighting use.
"Most of the time, when fighting fires of this size, we fight the fire with fire," McNeely explained. "It makes no sense to use water on a fire burning 7600 acres. It would take too much water. We build a fire break around the fire and burn it through so the fire has no fuel to continue forward."
Fuel seems to be the problem with these fires, a combination of high winds coming through Texas from other storms around the country and very dry fuels has created a tinderbox out of Texas.
"We've been under prolonged drought conditions," McNeely said. "Combined with the very high winds coming through here in the past few weeks, when a fire gets going, it grows very quickly, and is primarily driven by the weather."
McNeely offered some advice for Texas residents in these drought-plagued times. "It's important to listen to notices from public officials," he said. "If they say there is a fire and it's time to evacuate, heed their warnings. It's also important for Texas residents to check the firewise.org website to look at all measures they can take around their own homes and properties to make them more fire resistant."
The Third Worst Drought in Texas History
According to John Nielsen-Gammon, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University and Texas State Climatologist, Texas is looking at a hot, dry, dangerous summer.
"We haven't had much rain in the first two weeks in June and prospects don’t look good for the future," Nielsen-Gammon said. "The drought will continue to worsen over the next couple of months because we're already missing our June rainfalls and July is typically the driest month of the year in Texas."
So, what does this mean for the wildfires? According to Nielsen-Gammon, plenty of fuel to burn. "Between the dryness of the trees and ground fuels and the strength of the winds, these fires have an unusual amount of available fuel," he said.
"This has been an unusually windy spring coinciding with the storm systems evolving in the North," Nielsen-Gammon continued. "It would be nice if all these pressure systems were moving across Texas, but we are not seeing any rain. We usually have a fairly strong La Nina during the winter time, but this year was one of the driest on record. The drought is locked in place. Instead of having some rain periods to bring relief this summer, conditions are going to grow steadily unfavorable."
According to Nielsen-Gammon, this is the third worst drought in Texas history, behind the droughts of 1918 and 1956. "Those years were more severe because they had drought years behind them," he explained.
Nielsen-Gammon also said that fifty percent of the State of Texas is in exceptional drought conditions, or one spark short of combustion.
Drastic Measures in Small Towns
Ranchers are selling their herds because the cattle cannot find forage, crops are withering in the fields, the abundant Texas wildlife is fighting for food and water sources and wild birds have become increasingly dependent on home bird feeders and ponds. It was most obvious in the spring when the Texas Hill Country is generally bursting with wildflowers, but this year, the fields were barren.
The historic western town of Llano, Texas, known for its spectacular wildflower displays, had very few flowers for the tourists to enjoy this year. On June 22, 2011, facing its worse drought in fifty years, the Llano, Texas City Council approved the difficult decision to place residents under Stage 4 water restrictions--the Llano River is running dry.
The historic western town of 3200 residents has enough water for two to three months behind two dams, but no one is certain about the condition of that water. Residents are now restricted to indoor water use only--no filling of pools, watering the landscaping, or washing cars. It rained briefly in Llano on the evening of June 21--not enough to fill the dry riverbed. The water restrictions create even more challenges for local businesses dependent on water, such as plant nurseries and landscape companies.
Other small Texas towns are trying to find ways to prevent wildfire problems in their areas. At 7 p.m., on Friday, June 24, Texas Forest Service and area fire department representatives will instruct Leander area residents at the town hall meeting on personal wildfire action plans and help them identify potential fire dangers around their property, such as firewood stacked near homes and clearing dead vegetation, which seems to be in abundance in the drought-plagued towns of Central Texas.
Hoping For a Quiet Fourth of July
Texas Forest Service Spokesperson Lee McNeely is hoping for a quiet Fourth of July this year for firefighters with few wildfires to battle. McNeely said he is particularly concerned about the upcoming holiday and advised Texas residents to check for local restrictions on the use of fireworks before the holiday. Of the 254 counties in Texas, 227 of them are currently under burn bans.
"Make yourself aware of local regulations on outdoor burning and burn bans," McNeely said, "and please obey them!"
Darla Sue Dollman - Darla Sue Dollman, BA, MFA, has expertise in classic films, the Old West, boating, and animals.
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