Conditions are ripe for wildfires right now: Warmer-than-normal temperatures, combined with gusty winds and low humidity, are creating a fiery mix in several parts of Texas and prompting a Red Flag Warning in some North Texas counties.
The Texas A&M Forest Service is currently battling two large wildfires in the Texas Panhandle.
“We are seeing warmer than normal temperatures,” said spokesperson Laura Stevens. “And then also we’re seeing relatively low humidity and coupled that with winds as well as dry vegetation.”
Dallas Fire-Rescue said they’ve sent two pieces of equipment with eight firefighters, and two ambulances with a crew of seven to help fight the fires. A spokesperson for the Plano Fire Department told NBC 5 that they have deployed four people and a brush truck. Fort Worth has sent seven people to help fight fires in Alice, Amarillo, and Borger.
“[It’s] that time of the year again to where we’re seeing these requests start to come in,” said Fort Worth Fire Department spokesperson Craig Trojacek. “One of those teams is actually going to be coming back on Sunday and we’re actually sending another group of four out there tomorrow to meet up with them to relieve them from their duties up in Amarillo so they can come back home and get some rest.”
TEXAS WILDFIRE MAPS
On Thursday, the National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for Young, Jack, Montague, and Cooke counties until 7 p.m.
“Even though North Texas experienced some rain this past weekend and there may be hopefully a possibility of some rain upcoming, it just takes a couple of days of above normal temperatures and just windy conditions to dry that vegetation out,” Stevens said.
Trojacek said with these conditions, they’re staying vigilant themselves, too, sending more resources to fire calls that may seem small.
“Because by the time we get there with the winds of the way they are, we’d rather have resources there in place to combat whatever size that fire is at that point in time than trying to play catch-up,” Trojacek said.
According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, nine out of 10 wildfires are caused by humans and are, therefore, preventable.
Trojacek reminds people to refrain from throwing cigarettes out the window and clearing clutter outside their homes.
“Whether it be firewood from the winter seasons or just kind of some things that they haven’t thrown away yet,” he said. “If you’ve got stuff piled up against your house, it allows that fire to grow. And then it gets up into the eaves of a house, into the attic, and then you can lose your entire home just from having some stuff piled up around a house.”
Stevens said most people don’t think about their cars, but those can be big fire risks, too.
“We see roadside starts from vehicles because of blown tires, dragging chains,” she said.