A Better East Texas: East Texans bear responsibility to prevent wildfires

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - Most of us have been through the threat of power outages from winter weather events and destructive storms.

In Texas, you kind of come to expect a certain amount of weather disruption. But we are experiencing a phenomenon currently that we really haven’t seen in a decade and that is extreme dryness and fire threat caused by record heat.

We can debate the causes of the heat, but it is summer in Texas and when there is a lack of rain, the fire danger for all of us increases.

Back in 20-11, we experienced a record-breaking fire threat and experience that we need to remember.

In East Texas, there were more than 2-thousand wildfires that year and 200-thousand acres of land impacted. The timber alone that was destroyed totaled more than 97 million dollars. You could see smoke from fires all around.

We are on the cusp of another such event now with dry conditions predicted to continue so, we must do what we can to prepare and prevent. Which isn’t much for many of us, but wildfires oftentimes start with a spark and that spark can come from vehicles where metal on metal impact creates a spark.

They can also start from something as simple as a chain dragging the pavement while a vehicle is in motion. And then there are burn bans, which mean no outside burning. It is just too dry, even for controlled burns.

The list of causes is long but with a little responsibility, we can impact this pending fire danger. And that will make for a Better East Texas.

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