The Huntsville Item, Huntsville, TX

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June 23, 2009

Fire burns 250 acres of forest land

By Matthew Jackson

Firefighters from around Walker County worked late into the night Monday to contain and extinguish a large fire that eventually destroyed 250 acres of forest land on Farm-to-Market Road 1696.

At approximately 5 p.m. firefighters from the Huntsville and Pine Prairie fire departments were dispatched to the area of Hopewell Road on FM 1696 in western Walker County, less than 10 miles from the Grimes County line, after receiving reports of a fire in the area.

As firefighters began to arrive at the scene, it became apparent that the fire was too big and too fast-moving to be immediately contained, and assistance was called in from the Pine Prairie and Bedias fire departments as well as the Texas Forest Service.

“It just took off,” said John Hobbs, HFD assistant fire chief. “It turned out it was a crowning fire, which is a fire burning in the tops of trees. It’s a very hot, fast-moving fire.”

Forest Service crews began working to contain the fire, using six bulldozers to carve out fire containment lines, building up dirt buffers to prevent the fire from spreading. Meanwhile, fire crews worked to protect exposure areas, including nearby structures, from burning.

Together, fire and forest crews worked to “back-burn,” the fire, containing the spreading areas until the fire was once again limited to its original area.

“We just backed up and let it do its thing until we could get some lines out and get it to back burn into the original fire,” Hobbs said. “There was just so much fuel in all those trees.”

After the blaze was contained, fire crews were able to move in and extinguish the remaining fires. Five hours later, the fire crews were released from the scene.

At its height, the fire was fought by three Huntsville fire units, four Crabbs Prairie units, three Pine Prairie units and a booster unit from Bedias in addition to the containment crews from the Forest Service.

“There were a lot of trucks and people involved,” Hobbs said. “The Forest Service stayed out there until 1 a.m., and they checked on it again early this morning.”

While the exact cause of the fire is still under investigation, Hobbs attributed the rapid spread of the blaze to extremely dry conditions and low humidity.

“It’s just really dry out there,” he said.

Walker County has been under a Burn Ban since June 18. The ban will continue for 90 days or until conditions change.



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