02/01/07 Across the Editor’s Desk
By Michael Autry
Representatives from an assortment of the various city and rural fire departments around Coleman
County gathered last Saturday morning for a two-hour class offered by the Texas Forest Service.
As the class carried on, firefighters primarily discussed controlled burns, and their uses in both
preventing and fighting wildland fires. Those in attendance could not help but to share stories from
the past year(s), as the last few wildland fire seasons have been some of the worst in recent history.
We all remember the tragic events in Cross Plains during the last days of 2005, as a grass fire rolled
into town, devastating homes and lives. Coleman experienced a near-miss in 2006, when a grass fire
near Milton Autry Memory Lake closely threatened homes on the hill, along with Holiday Hill Nursing
Home. An amazing effort by local emergency workers and volunteers prevented a potential
catastrophe, as the fire was halted just feet short of the line of houses on the back side of the hill.
The Memory Lake/Hill fire in Coleman got a lot of press in Coleman, and all involved emergency
workers, including the fire departments, Coleman EMS, Coleman and Coleman County law
enforcement, First Responders, and other volunteers were labeled as heroes for a day.
But, the glory fades over time, and it is back to business as usual. So, what is “business as usual” for
the Coleman and Coleman County Fire Departments? Well, there are only a handful of paid
firefighters among these departments, so most all of our heroes are volunteers. “Business as usual”
is their jobs, their families, their hobbies, etc. But, “business as usual” also often means leaving work
or jumping out of bed in the middle of the night to respond to a fire, car wreck, or other emergency.
The occasional sounding of the city-wide fire siren in Coleman alerts area residents that their
volunteer heroes are going to work on a structure fire, but the siren rings only a small percentage of
the time when a blaze is lighting up the sky. The siren does not sound for grass fires, which, if you
ask any area firefighter, is the most abundantly paged-out call for local fire departments.
There were times, during 2005 and 2006, when Coleman and Coleman County firefighters were
responding to grass fires on a daily basis, if not several times per day. Instead of heading to the
house after work, these brave souls spent literally thousands of collective man-hours over the past
year working wildland fires.
So, what is the point? Well, we have to toot the horn of the volunteers a bit. But, there is more. Let’s
ask ourselves why the volunteers have to spend so many thousands of hours in the heat, smoke,
dust, etc putting it on the line for a bunch of burning shrubbery.
When it does not rain, and when the humidity gets low, and when the wind is blowing, it almost seems
like grass fires will start themselves. And these are familiar conditions in this part of the world
So, getting to the point, there is no way to prevent all wildland fires. Sure, if nobody threw out lit
cigarettes from cars driving down the highway, and sure, if more precautions were taken during
controlled burns, and sure, if controlled brush fires and campfires were never left unattended, and
sure, if trains never threw out sparks, we would have many fewer grass fires. But, lightening,
decomposition, glass bottles acting as magnifying glasses, and animals getting tangled up with
electrical equipment will also produce just enough heat to set off a pasture or two.
The moral of the story is that not all wildland fires can be prevented. We can just be thankful that
there are those out there who are willing to volunteer their time to leave their jobs, homes, families,
and warm beds to extinguish the blazes, thereby protecting structures, crops, and livestock.
So, without getting too deep into fire science and the theories behind wildland firefighting, there are a
few important points everyone should remember.
1. Even though a burn-ban has been lifted, grass, trees, shrubbery, etc is still flammable.
2. If vegetation is already dry and/or dead during periods of drought, one single rain will
temporarily wet things down, but it does NOT reduce the threat of wildland fires. The dry/dead grass
is still dry/dead after the moisture begins to dry up.
3. The best way to stop a wildland fire is to eliminate the fuel load. So, structures and houses in
rural settings should have minimal dry/dead vegetation nearby. Keep grass mowed down, clear
downed limbs and brush, and keep combustible materials (such as firewood, brush piles, stacked
lumber, etc) away from structures. When burning a brush pile, clear a good fire-break around the
pile, and remove nearby combustible materials.
4. Clear vegetation from around LPG tanks.
5. Keep connected watering hoses on all sides of rural houses so they are easily available to wet
the ground/house in case of an approaching fire.
6. If you are planning a controlled burn, contact the fire department to let them know of your
intentions, and to learn more on how you can safely conduct a burn.
7. Never leave a controlled fire unattended.
For more information on how you can help prevent wildland fires, and for more tips like the ones listed
above, contact your local fire department, or visit the Texas Forest Service’s website, at http:
//txforestservice.tamu.edu .