Fire danger persists
Drought keeps Texas on edge for more blazes
LOS ANGELES – Texas fire officials have brought some major blazes under control, allowing residents to return to their homes, but warned that the state may still face more fires given record summer heat and drought.
During the past week, firefighters across the state have responded to 176 wildfires that burned 126,844 acres, according to the Texas Forest Service.
The largest fire, in the Bastrop area east of Austin, has destroyed 1,386 homes, a state record for a single fire. Firefighters had the blaze 30 percent contained Thursday and expected to make headway in coming days, but local officials warned they could see more fires if hot, dry conditions persist.
“I’m concerned that some yo-yo could throw a cigarette out north of Bastrop and light the place up,” said Bastrop Mayor Terry Orr. “We are far, far from being out of fire stress danger – this is just a pause.”
Officials announced Thursday that Texas set a national record for the hottest meteorological summer (June 1 to Aug. 31) with an average temperature of 86.8 degrees, beating a record set by Oklahoma in 1934 during the Dust Bowl.
Texas has been struggling with a record drought since July 2010, with levels of extreme and exceptional drought totaling nearly 96 percent, an increase from the previous week, according to a U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday.
“The drought is kind of feeding on itself at this point,” said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. “We really need a tropical system to come in and bust it.”
It was unclear whether Tropical Storm Nate would provide such relief.
Nate, which was hovering over the Gulf of Mexico, might head to Texas next week but it’s too soon to say whether it will help douse or fan the fires. When Tropical Storm Lee rolled in last weekend, it brought Texas more wind than rain, exacerbating wildfires.
“Nate could either be a godsend or a curse, depending on what the track will be,” said Victor Murphy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service based in Fort Worth. “Texas is in a very perilous situation. We’re in uncharted waters.”
The U.S. Forest Service has sent 1,628 personnel to aid state and local firefighters.
The agency also dispatched a DC-10 water tanker from California to Austin late Tuesday, which was expected to be used today once a pilot was available.