Moore Peak Fire: Gov. Abbott deploys wildfire resources to biggest fire burning in Texas
LLANO COUNTY, Texas - Gov. Greg Abbott has deployed additional wildfire response resources to Llano County. Local and state authorities are working to combat a fire that has spread about 600 acres and is 50 percent contained.
As of July 14, the Moore Peak Fire in Llano County near Highway 71 and County Road 307, just west of Kingsland, is the biggest fire burning in Texas at 600 acres.
"Crews are on scene continuing to strengthen the perimeter around this fire. We’ve been using heavy equipment like bulldozers and motor graters to basically build a road around the first, what we call a fire line to secure it," Texas A&M Forest Service Walter Flocke said.
Flocke said 12 homes are being threatened, but aren’t in the line of fire.
"Most of them, fire has already moved around, and they were saved yesterday," Flocke said.
About 20 different crews with ambulances, bulldozers, fire engines, helicopters, and airtankers, are working to combat this fire. Each plane holds about 500 gallons of water and will make about a dozen drops.
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"They are scooping water out of Lake Buchanan, so they glide the surface of the lake, scoop water, and basically make it rain on the fire," Flocke said.
He said rain is what is needed, but it doesn’t look like it’s on the way.
"We’re expecting to see fires increase and see them to continue to be hard to control because of this excessive heat, and the dry conditions and the wind," Flocke said.
He said many of these fires are preventable. About 90 percent are human caused. The fire in Llano County started from someone using a piece of equipment on private property.
"Folks need to have a water source, a fire extinguisher, if they’re going to be out working on ranch lands or if they’re going to be outside welding, or anything with an engine, anything that can cause a spark in these grasslands, rangelands, we really need people to be careful," Flocke said.
Suppression efforts will continue Friday night.