Texas...
The State of Texas is being ravaged by several very serious wildfires. On Wednesday, at least seven large brushfires raged across the state. Mahlon Hammetter, a fire prevention specialist with the Texas Forest Service said, "The state is burning up. We've got seven major fires that we have on our board, and there are undoubtedly more that we don't know about. This is the worst year that I can remember."
Texas has had very little rain of late and temperatures in much of the state reached close to 100 degrees (F) on Wednesday.
A 150-man unit from the Texas Forest Service joined U.S. Forest Service units and teams from four other states to battle a forest fire in the Upland Island National Wilderness Area, located in Angelina County. This blaze has grown to 2,500 acres.
At four homes were destroyed on Wednesday afternoon by a large grass fire in northeast Tarrant County. At least 15 structures were destroyed by fire in Denton County.
The Houston area has been very busy battling brushfires all month. Officials said that non-stop calls are beginning to take their toll on fire personnel. Since February 1st, the Houston Fire Department has fought 476 grass fires. In all of 1995, they battled 1,100 similar fires. In suburban Houston, Harris County, firefighters handled 86 fires in a 24 hour period on Tuesday.
Hammetter said that most of the fires have been caused by carelessness, but arson is being suspected in several others. Hammetter said, "If we could get the accidental fires stopped that would leave that many more units to fight the arson fires."
The Texas Forest Service fire protection unit is headquartered in Lufkin. The unit tracks many brushfires and dispatches personnel and equipment to the scene of the fires.
But the above blazes were nothing compared to the 25,000-acre fire that has destroyed numerous homes and trailers near the small town of Poolville. Poolville is located about 35 miles northwest of Fort Worth. 16 firefighters and two civilians have been injured in this fire. As of Thursday morning, the fire was still said to be 40 percent contained.
The sheriff of Parker County said, "We're not talking acres, we're talking miles. We've lost houses. We've lost trailers. We've lost barns. We've lost deer camps." At least 57 homes and 12 trailer homes have been reported destroyed in the Poolville blaze that is about 40 square miles in size.
(c) EmergencyNet News Service, 1996, All rights Reserved.