Parts of Huntsville, Texas, had to be evacuated on Friday due to a wildfire that has burned 500 acres and is expected to continue to grow in intensity through the Labour Day holiday.
The Game Preserve Fire, as it has been dubbed by the Texas A&M Forest Service, has burned an estimated 500 acres and is 0% contained as of this writing.
The Walker County Office of Emergency Management said that planes were dropping water on the fires.
Everyone within three miles of Lost Indian Camp Road has been advised to leave their homes by the county’s emergency management office. According to Stephanie Harris, the communications supervisor for Walker County, who spoke with AWN, a huge region was evacuated to the northwest of Huntsville.
North of Houston, Texas, you’ll find Huntsville, the Walker County seat.
Walker County issued a fire prohibition on July 21st, 2018. The fire weather was deemed critical on Thursday night due to the dry conditions, according to the emergency management office.
To aid in the suppression of wildfires across the state before the Labour Day weekend, Governor Greg Abbott has ordered the Texas A&M Forest Service to activate an air tanker base in Austin.
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport’s air tanker facility is ready to receive the whole national fleet, according to the governor’s office.
“Additional resources through this airtanker base will provide even greater support to state and local officials as they swiftly respond,” the governor said in a press statement. The weather forecast for this Labour Day weekend in Texas calls for temperatures in the triple digits, so I want to remind Texans to be careful around open flames and other sources of ignition.
This summer’s high heat and drought in large sections of the southern United States, especially Texas and Louisiana, have created circumstances favourable to wildfires. A severe heat wave with triple-digit temperatures hit Texas in June. And in early August, a wildfire in Austin raged for more than two days, destroying at least one residential block.
