Despite recent rain, firefighters say fire risk remains in Central Texas

CENTRAL, Texas (KWTX) - It was a busy weekend for local fire departments as they battled multiple fires, both structure and brush fires, across Central Texas.

Nearly a dozen agencies all responded to a large fire at Kimball Bend Park on Lake Whitney over the weekend.

”We brought in one helicopter dropping water on the hotspots,” Billy Terry, Texas A&M Forest Service Public Information Officer, said. “The combination of the helicopters, the engines and the dozers helped bring it under control.”

The fire started late Saturday night but showers on Sunday offered first responders some reprieve.

”There was moisture in the area by that time, so we felt like we had a pretty good grasp of the situation and the fire wasn’t going to rekindle,” Terry said.

Also late Saturday evening Morgan’s Point Resort Fire & Rescue provided mutual aid to a 30-acre brush fire in Harker Heights. Then just hours later early Sunday morning another fire this time at a home in Nolanville.

”At 3:41 in the morning we were dispatched to another fire at a single-home in Nolanville that was fully engulfed by the time our engine company arrived,” Morgan’s Point Resort Fire & Rescue chief Taran Vaszocz said.

Fire officials say despite the long-awaited rain it’s clear that the fire risk remains.

”The fire danger will remain with us for some time,” Terry said. “I would say we could see this well into the fall until we see some significant changes with cooler weather and more rainfall.”

They recommend avoiding any kind of wielding, keeping yards cut and avoid parking cars in tall grass.

”If you think for a second you started a fire, immediately call 911,” chief Vaszocz said. “With the winds we got and the dry conditions we got, even with your garden hose that fire could get past you.”

All three of these fires are now fully contained, but the cause of them is still under investigation.

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