Multiple North Texas counties have enacted burn bans as continued dry weather has brought moderate drought conditions to the area.
As of Friday, Tarrant, Rockwall, Kaufman, Wise and Johnson counties have burn bans in place. According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, 122 counties in Texas have enacted bans, accounting for nearly half the state. Forest Service officials also raised the Wildland Fire Preparedness Level earlier this week.
While one of the wettest springs on record eased drought conditions in much of North Texas, continued dry spells this summer have brought moderate levels of drought back, according to the National Weather Service’s drought information page. The U.S. Drought Monitor puts much of the Dallas-Fort Worth area in a moderate drought stage, while much of North Texas also deals with moderate levels of drought.
According to the map, Tarrant, Rockwall, Denton and Collin counties are all almost entirely in a moderate drought, while Dallas County is split between a moderate drought and being “abnormally dry.”
The National Wea ther Service’s Fort Worth office has recorded about 6.6 inches of rain since the beginning of June, with only .35 inches of rain since the beginning of August. While there has been more rain than last summer, which ranked as the fourth-driest on record, Fort Worth Weather Service meteorologist Matt Bishop said the rainfall numbers are slightly deceiving, as most of the rain for June occurred right at the beginning of the month. Bishop also said most of July’s rainfall came on one day, July 21.
The continued dry spells in June and July extended into August, Bishop said, leading the Drought Monitor this week to upgrade the D-FW area to moderate drought stage.
With those drought conditions come an elevated risk for wildfires as grass dries out, creating environmental fuel for fires. Laura Stevens, public information officer with the Texas A&M Forest Service, said the service raised the Wildland Fire Preparedness Level to 3 on Monday. Stevens said the Forest Service has begun strategically moving firefighting resources into areas of the state most at risk for wildfires.
At this point, Stevens said North Texas and the Panhandle are most at risk for wildfires. Along with the Forest Service, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that additional state firefighting resources would be deployed due to the increased risk for wildfires.
According to a news release from Abbott, East and Central Texas are also seeing an expanded risk for wildfires due to triple-digit heat and dried out vegetation.
The Forest Service’s incident viewer is reporting several active wildfires in the state, with two near the Shackelford and Throckmorton county line, roughly 160 miles west of Dallas. According to the viewer, many wildfires have been reported this week in areas west of Dallas, with one North Texas wildfire in Lamar County contained by Thursday evening.
Stevens said nine out of ten wildfires are caused by humans and cautioned Texans to take steps to prevent wildfires. Stevens said citizens can help prevent wildfires by being aware of local burn bans, not burning on windy or dry days and keeping piles small if burning debris.