Dear Editor:
Wildfire season is upon us!
San Saba County has benefited from ample rain and mild temperatures this spring and early summer, resulting in tall grass and thick vegetation in pastures. As the weather becomes hotter and drier, this bounty has a downside: plenty of fuel for a dangerous wildfire.
A fire requires three components to burn: oxygen (plenty of that around), fuel, and a spark. Thanks to the rains, there is plenty of fuel for a fire. As the plants dry out, conditions become ripe for a quickly moving, hot wildfire that is difficult to contain.
The third component - a spark - is where your help is needed. Most wildfires are a result of human activity, and a few precautions can avoid destruction of life and property:
1. AVOID driving a motor vehicle through a dry pasture - stay on maintained ranch roads, and NEVER idle a motor vehicle in the pasture.
2. If possible, AVOID any activity involving a fire or spark when conditions are hot, dry and windy. If you need to weld, keep water handy and watch for errant sparks. A water sprayer is great, but even a 5-gallon bucket of water with a bath towel soaking in it can stop a fire before it gets out of control. Bring along a shovel, too.
3. If you're TOWING a trailer, regularly check for worn tires and grease wheel bearings. Be sure chains are secured and not dragging.
4. If you SMOKE, don't discard the cigarette on the ground. Put the butt in a container in your truck - you'll be sure that it's extinguished if you make a habit of doing that.
5. Save your house by establishing a DEFENSIBLE SPACE around your home. Embers from a fire travel great distances and land on roofs and in gutters which can destroy a home a long way from the main fire. A clear area around the home also allows firefighters some working space to defend the structure from an approaching fire. For more information about a defensible space, go to <www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/fire-causes-and-risks/ Wildfire/Preparing-homes-for wildfire>. If you can't follow all the recommendations in that link, any of them will help.
While all County fire departments have unpaid volunteers, the cost of fighting a wildfire to the County is many thousands of dollars in equipment repair and replacement. Individual businesses absorb the cost of a volunteer worker who may be gone for days fighting a large fire. Losses of livestock, equipment, and damage to property, goes without saying.
As the cool season grasses wither, please donate an ounce of prevention to avoid the pound of cure. Thanks for doing your part!
San Saba Volunteer
Fire Department