Governor Greg Abbott issued a wildfire disaster declaration for nearly 75% of Texas counties last Friday, McLennan County included.
This proclamation comes after wildfires have spread throughout the state this summer due to extremely hot temperatures, high winds and increasingly dry conditions.
Just last Saturday, Lorena, Texas, a city in McLennan County, put out a brush fire that spread up to 115 acres. Multiple fire departments came to help at the scene, including Waco.
The disaster declaration made by the governor will allow the Texas counties listed to utilize state resources in the event of a disaster.
“That’s due to the widespread threat of the damage that can occur, and the loss of life and property is what he mentioned.”
Public information officer for the Waco fire department, Lieutenant Keith Guillory, says the department has developed partnerships across the state in order to better respond to this crisis.
“So we partner with the Texas A&M Forestry service and surrounding cities to assist us if we have any wildfires here locally.”
The department has also increased their workforce and equipment this summer.
“We’ve upstaffed with extra brush trucks and personnel on our machines and brush trucks. As well as the partnership with the Texas A&M Forestry Service. We have them centralized here locally in case we do have some sort of disaster.”
Waco fire is strongly advising locals to educate themselves on how and why wildfires can start.
“Right now, any small spark or ignition source can really take off. So even outside cooking, we advise against any type of grilling or barbequing right now. We see a lot of fires happen from things like discarded cigarette buds, when people throw their cigarette bud outside of their vehicles into dry grass that starts what we call spark fires that can turn into wildfires.”
McLennan county is currently under a burn ban, and the city of Waco has suspended all open burning permits for the time being.
“If you see anyone doing any type of open burning I would say call 911 and report that to the dispatcher, and we will dispatch units out to that and we will also dispatch a fire marshall to that scene. We will issue a citation for any type of open burning within the city limits of Waco.”
Lieutenant Guillory also said not to try and put out a fire all on your own. Always make sure to call 911. There are, however, other ways for locals to support the Waco fire dept.
“We have our volunteer, what we call our co-op, department, where we have civilians who can be a part of that team, and that team goes out to respond to any of these fires and help with things like hydration, cooling, running our cooling centers and things like that.”
The most impactful way the public can make a difference, though, is to stay safe, healthy and remain aware of our actions and the actions of those around us.
“People don’t really think about this, this is something really good, is if your car is disabled for whatever reason or you get a flat or something like that, be cognizant of where you pull over. Don’t pull over into tall or dry grass because that hot engine can, at this point right now, ignite that tall grass. Your car can ignite, as well as the surrounding brush, and can start a wildfire. No outside burning of brush or anything like that within city limits of Waco. If this goes out to the county, we advise against it within the county right now because it is too dry. With this declaration by the governor, it shows the seriousness that the state is also taking.”
With 103.3 Waco Public Radio, I’m Autumn Jone
