Texas Receives Fire Suppression Grant for Jeff Davis County Wildfire
Release Date: June 19, 1998
Release Number: 3127-01
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- FEMA approved a Fire Suppression Assistance Grant was approved for Jeff Davis County, Texas, yesterday. This grant will help firefighters battling the 200-acre Paradise fire burning near the Fort Davis Resort Ranch, about 18 miles southwest of Fort Davis on State Highway 166.
The Texas Forest Service reports the fire is threatening as many as 200 structures. No evacuations were reported as of this morning, but the situation has the potential to change rapidly. Firefighters are facing 100-degree-plus temperatures and high winds, which are fanning the flames in brush-covered land toward populated areas.
Another, unrelated fire, was reported by the Texas Forest Service yesterday in the eastern part of the state, close to the community of Vidor (pop. 40) in Orange County. The fire was burning on only five acres but was threatening up to twenty structures and the Amarada Hess Gas Plant. Local authorities are responding to this situation.
FEMA's Region VI staff in Denton, Texxas is in contact with the State and is monitoring the situation.
Texas has deployed regional fire risk assessment teams to the East Texas forest region in the greater Houston-Galveston area and the San Antonio area. The teams are assessing wildfire occurrence patterns and identifying significant fire causes and high-risk areas.
The fire danger in the state for the next 30 days ranges from moderate to very high. The National Weather Service weather forecast for most of Texas calls for continued hot and dry conditions. At present, 98 counties have issued bans on outdoor burning of any kind, for any reason. Some 250,000 acres have burned in the state since the beginning of the year.
Last Modified: Wednesday, 14-Jan-2004 10:08:50