County Burn Ban On Horizon

New Year’s Day was anything but enjoyable for volunteer firefighters in Van Zandt County.

After the first day of 2008 brought 12 grass fires, Van Zandt County Fire Marshall Chuck Allen has decided he can wait no longer about asking for an outdoor burn ban. Wednesday, Allen said he planned to meet with county judge Rhita Koches to work out the details of the ban and put it on the county commissioners’ court agenda for Tuesday.

"It will be on there," he said about the request. "We nearly lost four $200,000 homes yesterday (Tuesday) because of an out-of-control grass fire. While we wound up saving those four homes, we lost 300 round hay bales."

If approved by county commissioners, Van Zandt County would follow Hunt and Kaufman counties in enacting outdoor burn bans in the unincorporated areas.

The fire Allen talked about consumed nearly 55 acres along Van Zandt County Roads 2702 and 2704 in the Whitton area. Mabank and Whitton volunteer fire departments battled the flames for three hours, Allen said.

"Somebody was burning off some old hay out on some country land and it turned into an uncontrolled fire," Allen said. He added that no firefighters were injured but one citizen was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

"They stand out with it for a little bit, think it’s OK because it has burned down and there’s no visible flames, it’s just smoking a little. But all it takes is a gust of wind to take an ember and bury it in the grass, and suddenly it has set a raging pasture fire," Allen said.

The heavy rainfall in East Texas through the spring and summer of 2007 led to high vegetation growth, he explained, and set the stage for the current dangerous conditions.

"A lot of it was left uncut and people don’t take into consideration that high vegetation needs to be kept manicured and away from their residence," Allen said. "The recent rainfall we had a week or so ago, all that’s done is hampered firefighting efforts."

One case in Allen’s point occurred Monday when 12 area volunteer fire departments were needed to contain another grass fire in the Whitton area, one that burned nearly 250 acres.

"We’ve got fire trucks getting stuck (in mud) trying to get to these fires, which means another department has to be called in because we’ve got a truck out of commission and those firefighters can’t perform the work needed to control these fires," Allen said.

"With all this dead vegetation, these fires are intense. Then you add more wind and it increases the chance of a firefighter getting hurt or having a truck burned up," he added. "Dealing with all these grass fires takes these volunteer firemen away from their families, and all because someone has left a trash barrel burning or left a grass fire unattended."