Published: July 09, 2008 09:49 am      

Grass fire destroys home, 50 acres

A large grass fire just off state Highway 30 destroyed one home and endangered three others Tuesday afternoon.

The Huntsville Fire Department responded to a call on Mount Zion Church Road, just off state Highway 30, at about 1 p.m.

Two hours later, the fire covered nearly 50 acres of grassland and endangered several structures, including three homes.

Fire crews from Shiro, Bedias, Pine Prairie, and Crabbs Prairie responded to the scene, with assistance from Huntsville-Walker County EMS personnel and a support crew from the Texas Forest Service.

According to Huntsville Fire officials, the fire was originally small, but quickly developed into a larger blaze due to high winds in the area.

“After the fire started, the wind picked up to dangerous levels and started changing direction,” said Huntsville traning officer Jason January, commanding officer at the scene. “It made it difficult for us to attack the head of the fire.”

As the winds spread the fire, Huntsville fire officials called for more manpower to aid in the effort, and the fire crews developed a new strategy.

“For the firefighters’ safety, we could no longer attack the fire,” January said. “We took up a defensive mode, and the fire forced us to fall back and protect as many exposures as possible. We focused on saving structures, homes and livestock.”

The state of the terrain made it difficult for officials to measure the size of the damage, but January estimated the expanse of the fire to be between 40 and 50 acres, crossing 7 different property lines.

“This fire has caused a county-wide effort to protect this portion of Walker County,” January said.

After the fire was under control, a crew from the Texas Forest Service arrived to institute fire control measures.

“Now that the forest service is on location, they’ll put down a plow line,” January said, “which is basically a line of dirt several feet wide around the perimeter of the fire. This will cause the fire to burn to that spot and go out, creating a man made fire break.”

The fire was the largest of 3 grass fires west of Huntsville on Tuesday. Huntsville fire Chief Tom Grisham notes that it’s to be expected in the summer months, despite recent rainfall.

“We’re always thankful for any amount of rain we get,” Grisham said. “The problem is we don’t get widespread rainfall. Some parts of the county are drier than others, and even though it is wet, we don't get as much soil saturation in some parts of the county.”

Grisham said that summer storms are often a “double-edged sword” for firefighters, due to their tendency to contain high winds and dry air ahead of rain.

“What happened (Tuesday) is we got rain in Huntsville, but the wind from the storm and the dry air ahead of it had a strong effect on the fires.”

According to Grisham, the Huntsville Fire Department has been responding to about 10 ground cover fires each week, mostly grass fires. Grisham said that during the summer months, it’s to be expected.

“They increase during the summer months,” Grisham said. “We still have several months of forecasted dry weather coming, so we just have to be careful and be prepared.”