ORANGE, Texas — Wild fires have been on the rise across Southeast Texas and the high winds and low humidity in the area have played a major part in that. While a burn ban is not currently in effect, residents still have a major part to play when it comes to reducing the risk of wildfires.
"Unfortunately we were kind of waiting for it because we did know humidity was low, and the wind was going to be bad," Orange County Fire Chief Kelley Moore told 12News.
Firefighters all over Southeast Texas were scrambling this weekend to put out several wildfires that were spreading quickly because of the high winds and dry conditions.
"This winter we had a lot of freezing weather which killed the foliage on top so even though it may be wet on the bottom, we have a lot of dead foliage, grass, tree limbs and stuff that's on the top. It gets out of hand, hits this dry foliage and runs. Especially with the wind," Moore said.
Chief Moore said that his firefighters have already had to respond to eight different brush fires.
"The nicer weather just has more people out burning things, which causes a bigger issue," Moore said.
Moore says that even the smallest of fires can quickly spiral out of control in just moments.
"Some were unattended. Some the wind picked up after it seemed like it died down a little bit, the wind picked up and it got out of hand." Moore said, "It did cause hardship on us for running so much because of manpower issues. Everybody's still pretty tired."
However, there are ways to keep fires from getting out of hand, such as burn bans as unpopular as they may be.
"I would like to see a burn ban happen. Any time there's wind like this, we expect it to continue to be a hazard to us." Chief Moore told 12News.
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