Protect your home against the Texas wildfires
— reported by KHOU CBS Channel 11(1)
Wildfires are still burning across Texas as the fire danger from dry weather grows worse.
The numbers clearly prove it, with 200,000 acres charred and 115 homes destroyed just since Sunday.
One of the hot spots Tuesday night is in Eastland, where flames have raced across 35,000 acres, about 125 miles west of Dallas.
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There are simple things you can do to protect your home before fire comes:
– First clean roof surfaces and gutters. Make sure that all pine needles, leaves and branches are cleared out and disposed of safely. Anything that’s fallen from the trees is simply tinder now.
– Create a firebreak around all structures, including home and fences. Clear between 1 foot and 18 inches around the house and fences.
“Try to keep everything basically as far away from your house as possible. I know a lot of people like to have the woods up close but from a safety standpoint if you can clear everything back it helps us,” said Chief Berg.
– Also make sure that all combustibles are kept away from structures such as picnic tables, firewood and any other debris. That helps creates a defensible space for firefighters.
– Check your trees and trim branches away from chimneys and remove branches below 15 feet.
Stay prepared.
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Blazes mostly contained across Texas
— reported by the Houston Chronicle(2)
Firefighters throughout Texas continued checking major blazes that appeared mostly contained late Tuesday as the threat of flare-ups and new fires lingered with the windy and dry conditions.
They had contained 60 percent of a fire west of San Angelo that had scorched about 40,000 acres in Irion and Reagan counties. A 6,000-acre blaze in Erath County that had become active and was threatening about seven homes earlier in the day had also calmed by Tuesday night, the Texas Forest Service said.
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Otherwise, the largest among the nearly 60 blazes that erupted Sunday were contained. There were no deaths reported in those fires. Since December, grass fires have killed three people, burned more than 250,000 acres and destroyed at least 250 homes.
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Reminders:
- KHOU CBS Channel 11 requires a free registration.
- Houston Chronicle links expire after a few days because they’re archived. If you want to access these articles after that, you either have to be a subscriber or go to the Houston Public Library and access the database using your Library Power Card.
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