HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Close to 4 million acres burned across the state of Texas in 2011, nearly 6,000 of them in Walker County.
Jared Karns, wildland urban interface specialist with the Texas Forest Service, called the wildfire season in Texas, "unprecedented," and said it took multiple agencies to keep damage to a minimum.
"We bring in resources from all across the country. We didn't have the resources to fight all the fires we had," Karns said. "We relied on other agencies. It was a team effort. Any major wildfire season you have, you're going to have different partnering agencies on it. It builds good relationships, so some good things come out of it."
Huntsville Fire Department's Assistant Fire Chief John Hobbs agreed and said it was interesting to be dealing with wildfires as opposed to the active hurricane seasons of the past few years.
"We worked so well together for hurricanes and then had to switch for wildfires and the plan worked," he said. "Fire departments from hundreds of miles away responded to our calls for help. When we needed something, they had the outside resources to help. It was very impressive."
Hobbs said he saw things over this past wildfire season that he hasn't seen in nearly 40 years as a firefighter.
"Seeing a C-130 (aircraft) in your community -- I've never seen that," Hobbs said. "I feel like we're in just as much danger this year as we were last year. Now we need to educate the public about what we need to do."
Hobbs said the fire department is working with other agencies to offer classes in 2012 on how to reduce fire fuels around homes and businesses.
Jordan Beakley, prevention and fuels technician with the US Forest Service, said the most unexpected thing about the 2011 fire season was the way the fires behaved.
"We had rapid fire growth. We haven't seen that," he said. "You're not used to seeing landscape fires in East Texas. Typically you have slow growth and it never gets in the crown of the trees. This year, you're seeing whole communities burn down."
As of Dec. 14, the Texas Forest Service was reporting that 131 of the 254 Texas counties were still under burn bans. Walker County has lifted its ban for the time being, but has put a ban on projectile fireworks with fins in preparation for the New Year's fireworks season.
For more information on protecting your home from wildfire, visit www.firewise.org.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
