Wildfire season ramps up between August and October in Texas, and local firefighters have already been busy fighting back fast-moving flames in multiple communities, including Stephens County, about 1.45 hours west of Fort Worth. The Bufford Creek Fire has burned over 3,000 acres and is the large st active wildfire in Texas as of Tuesday. The good news is it is about 90% contained, according to Texas AM’s Forest Service. Fire departments across North Texas have deployed personnel across the state as part of a mutual aid agreement, including the Denton Fire Department. On Monday, trained wildland firefighters helped snuff out the 300-acre Saxon Fire burning in Burnet County. “We sent one of our brush trucks and a three-person crew yesterday with strike team 189 for the state,” said Denton Battalion Chief David Boots. “They deployed down to Burnett, Texas, along with four other fire brush trucks from Dallas, Fort Worth, Coppell, McKinney, and Little Elm.” Brandon Barth, deputy chief at the Flower Mound Fire Department and regional coordinator of the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System, is in College Station helping to deploy municipal fire resources across the state. “We have several different resources out right now on various strike teams and heavy equipment resources that are out supporting the state mission,” said Barth via Zoom on Tuesday. DFW-area fire departments are also preparing as wildfire risk will creep into North Texas in the coming days. “We have nine fire stations, nine fire engines, four brush trucks available for wildfire,” said Boots. “On what we’re anticipating to be a red flag day, a lot of time we’ll staff extra personnel on brush trucks just to be available.” One concern is the combined threat posed by hot, dry weather and high winds, especially dangerous when paired with dry vegetation that can easily spark a fire and spread rapidly. To help reduce wildfire risk, drivers are urged to avoid dry grass on roadsides or lawns as hot car parts could ignite vegetation. It’s important to be vigilant if towing a trailer, for example, that chains are not left to drag on the road. “Making sure they’re high enough off the ground so they’re not consistently dragging and causing sparks while you’re driving down the road,” said Denton Fire Captain Hunter Lott. “Brakes and old, bad tires can also cause fires.” Simply put, Lott says, keep anything that gets hot away from anything that can burn. “Grills do not need to be under patios,” he said. “They need to be outside of patios, and they need to be away from fences. Wooden fences and grills do not mix during the summer.” There are other precautions to take at home, such as keeping combustibles away from homes and other structures. “As you increase out, you know trimming vegetation, keeping tree limbs greater than 10 feet, seven to 10 feet from the ground to break up your lighter fuels, and then spreading out vegetation too. So if there was a fire coming through, it would make it a little bit slower,” explained Boots. “The idea is to create space that’s going to slow the advancement of the fire to allow firefighters a chance to put a stop on it.” ...read more read less