TEXAS \u2014\u00a0Just down the road from the Station 3 Fire Department in Hutto lies an old\u00a0cornfield. As you walk through it, you can see dead corn on the\u00a0ground and hear the sounds of dry, brittle leaves.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Walking through the brush, the battalion chief at Hutto Fire and Rescue, Michael Wofford, said the dry junipers can easily ignite a fire from a spark or heat source.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just quickly drying out between the heat and the wind. And now it\u2019s all starting to become very dry and causing high fire danger,\u201d said Wofford, as he touched the junipers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wofford said massive fields of vegetation with brush at least 4 feet tall are all across Central Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cPulling off on the side of the road into the ditch can set the grass on fire. If we continue to dry up, I\u2019ll have to put limitations on outdoor welding and stuff like that so that any outdoor activities, because a spark or a flame could end up the fire,\u201d said Wofford.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The battalion chief said that most of these high risk areas are privately owned. This means it\u2019s up to the property owner to maintain the land to decrease the risk of wildfires. The area Wofford walked through was privately owned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt used to be a cornfield, and now it\u2019s not being used for that anymore. It\u2019s probably being sold for commercial property for development soon,\u201d said Wofford.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Texans can expect areas of concern for wildfires\u00a0to expand across the state, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cCurrently, Texas is experiencing a steady increase in wildfire activity, particularly across broad areas, across Austin and San Antonio, extending out toward East Texas and this is occurring as we\u2019re experiencing unseasonably warm and dry conditions,\u201d said Ryan Burns, fire analyst at Texas A&M Forest Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n High fire danger is\u00a0forcing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to take action.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Oct. 10, Abbott\u200b\u200b\u00a0directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to activate additional state emergency response resources in anticipation of a growing wildfire danger across the state. The governor amended and renewed the state\u2019s wildfire disaster declaration<\/a>,\u00a0which now includes 179 counties.<\/p>\n