EDITORIAL: The burning question about wildfire protection
Dense smoke from an out of control grass fire looms over
Thick smoke from the wildfires shut down
Dozens of firefighters from across
Welcome to the winter wildfire season!
Luckily, no one was hurt and no homes were lost in the fires west of Fort
But the burning question that flares up along with these fires -- described as the Red Buffalo by the Plains Indians who saw them sweeping across the tallgrass prairies -- is are we prepared to fight them? Still flickering in our memories are the devastating fires in
The issue becomes even more pressing as
To help protect this population, the state has seriously beefed up its forces and programs to fight wildfires since the late 1990s, says the Texas A&M Forest Service Fire Chief
After the 1996 Poolville fire in
The state also created the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System to make statewide use of local resources when wildfires and other disasters occur. Since 2008, there have been 30 TIFMAS deployments using 294 departments, 3,569 firefighters and 898 fire engines.
Agency staffing also has steadily increased. In 2009, the fire service had 160 firefighters and supervisors working across
Still, is this enough?
And one has to wonder, in a state like
While things have improved, we can't let smoke get in our eyes and prevent us from seeing the need to be better prepared for a repeat of Monday, or, heaven forbid, something even worse.
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