"Dry and windy conditions continue to plague the area"

Beech Grove Volunteer Fire Chief James Gunter

Dry and windy conditions continue to plague our area resulting in a significant increase with wildfire activity. Multiple responses today, and the last several days, are taxing resources and personnel.

All of our area VFD’s are volunteer. We’ve all chosen to serve, voluntarily, and do so with pride and honor. We’ll keep answering the calls, but it does take a toll.

The last several days have exemplified the need for collaboration with all area VFD’s. Together we are much stronger than we are individually. Some of these wildfire responses have required an extraordinary number of resources, that can only be provided collaboratively.

In our immediate area, the VFD’s of Jasper County Emergency Services District # 4 all work very well together, providing both mutual aid and automatic aid. Those VFD’s are:

Angelina River Fire And Rescue

Beech Grove VFD, Jasper TX

East End Volunteer Fire Department

Jasper Texas Volunteer Fire Department

Lake Rayburn Fire Department

Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Dept

As was recently exemplified in the San Jacinto county fire, the need to work collaboratively across all public safety spectrums is paramount to a successful outcome. Locally this includes:

Texas A&M Forest Service

Texas Division of Emergency Management

Jasper County Sheriff’s Office - TX

City of Jasper, Jasper Texas

Jasper Police Department

Office of Jasper County Judge Mark Allen

Jasper County Interjurisdictional Emergency Management

And so many more…..

Today’s fires were all as a result of controlled fires, burning brush, that escaped containment in windy conditions.

The fire on US 190 just east of Beech Grove was a rekindled fire from yesterday that escaped containment in this afternoon’s winds.

Surprisingly , while placing containment lines on this fire, we witnessed the fire spotting outside of the new containment lines. Being present when these occurred , we were quickly able to take care of.

The other surprising event from this afternoon’s rekindle was how quickly the available fuels ignited, the intensity they were burning , and how quickly big mature trees were igniting 20 to 30 feet above the ground.

Fire behavior seems abnormal for this time of the year, especially considering how low the current KBDI reading is. However, the strong winds will outweigh soil moisture under the right circumstances.

Please do not burn anything until we have a change in conditions.

If you see a fire that appears to be outside on containment, please report it to 911.

We are not currently under a burn ban in Jasper County but one could be enacted at any point in time by Judge Allen.

Please be wise with fire and do not burn.