EAST TEXAS (KLTV) - Since Labor Day, wildfires have continued to spark up all over East Texas, many rekindling shortly after containment.
And according to authorities, the worst is not yet behind us.
What the experts are telling us is that we are going to be seeing this for at least another 6 months.
The gray line on this graph represents where East Texas normally is at this point during the year in terms of dryness. The black line shows where we are now. It was discouraging information like this that let authorities know they needed outside help.
"Since last Thursday the Pacific Northwest National Incident Management Team 2 has moved into our local Longview Gregg County Emergency Operations Center to help the local fire departments and public safety personnel to get our arms around some of the major fire incidents we've been experiencing since labor day"
This team that has worked major events such as the World Trade Center, Columbia Shuttle Recovery and Hurricane Rita Support will now dedicate their efforts to the tragedies these wildfires are bringing to East Texas.
A lot of our fire dept locally they're used to the sprint they go to the fire, take care of the fire go back to the station. The events we are having now and what we have to handle now is this is a marathon. This can be one event after another. This management team is accustomed to long term incident response.
But our local firefighters and those who have come in to assist, will only be successful if East Texans obey these crucial burn bans.
About 85 percent of the fires are caused by humans.
For all of you smokers out there, don't throw your cigarettes butts out the window. We've had fires start that way. The last thing they ask of East Texans is this:
When you see a fireman you see someone for the national forest service, the Texas forest service or you see a fireman whether it be volunteer or a public entity, thank them because without them we would be in a very bad way right now.
So remember thank them for what they're doing and what they're going to have to continue to do.
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