3.
WILDFIRES/MAJOR FIRES
Polk County continues to face major fire problems
each year similar to other counties all over the State of Texas.
This problem is compounded by the fact of more and more building within
what was once traditionally forest and plantation forest lands maintained by the
large timber companies. The major
cause of wildfires in Polk County is debris burning and control burns conducted
by property owners ill equipped or have lack of training in conducting control
burns. On April 1, 1996 a property
owner burning a hay field that got out of control caused one of the largest
wildfires in the history of Polk County. As
forestlands disappear and are developed into residential areas the chances for
greater number of wildfires increases.
In
1996, we witnessed a historical record number of fires and losses in terms of
acreage lost due to fires that burned across the state during a four month
period of the traditional "fire season" in the state.
A total of 113 homes and 170,000 acres were lost due to fire in what is
undoubtedly the worst siege of fire in the history of Texas. Over three hundred
(300)-trained fire fighters were brought in from across the nation to assist and
supplement the Texas Forest Service personnel in control of these fires. The
Southern States Forest Fire Compact was invoked in order for Texas to receive
help in terms of personnel and equipment from neighboring states.
Over
the five-year period of 1991 - 1995, an average of 1178 fires a year burned an
average of 17,022 acres with the average fire size being 14 acres.
Compare this to 1996, when 2622 fires burned 76,581 acres with an average
fires size of 29 acres.
The
major causes of fires[1]
in the East Texas commercial forest regions are as follows for 1996:
1)
Debris burning
55.5%
2)
Arson
10.0%
3)
Miscellaneous
21.5%
4)
Equipment/railroads
5.0%
5)
Lightning
3.5%
6)
Smoking
2.0%
7)
Campfires
1.5%
In
Texas, the greatest high-danger fire threats are forest, brush and grass fires.
The East Texas Piney woods belt of commercial timber is most susceptible
to forest fires. In East Texas, the most monetary damage was caused by arson.
Arsonists were responsible for 1 of every 4 fires, however in Polk County
arson is not as prevalent as it is in other East Texas counties. Debris burning
is and continues to be the major cause of fires.
Other causes such as control burns, construction fires and other
miscellaneous fires rank second.
Polk
County is divided into ten Emergency Service Zones and is supported by the local
office of the Texas Forest Service (see attached ESN Zone Map).
Establishing burn bans, banning the use of certain fire works, training
and early preparations have helped prevent large forest fires.
An extensive education program aimed at the local residents, weekend
campers and fishermen have helped curb fires caused by burning debris and trash.
Polk
County will remain exposed to fire hazards. Education, training and planning
will enable us to try and stay one step ahead in preventing forest fires.
Polk County is divided into ten (10) Emergency Service Number (ESN) Zones, each of these ESN zones identifies zone or area of responsibility (i.e. Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement, etc.) See Attachment 3 – A for fire zones and the name of fire departments.
[1] Source, Texas Forest Service, Livingston
This Homepage was prepared by Kenneth F. Hambrick, Polk County Coordinator. Contact at E-Mail address:
webmaster@pcoem.org for additional information about our program.
The
information contained in this Homepage is considered public
domain and the Office of Emergency Management encourages
interested persons to utilize any portions of it that might be of educational
benefit or enhance their local programs.
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