This is a little close for comfort.
Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough declared a local state of disaster as a 2,000-acre wildfire in Sam Houston National Forest prompted over 900 home evacuations and school closures.
The disaster declaration comes as fire crews on Thursday continued working to extinguish the Pauline Road fire, roughly 50 miles north of Houston. The fire was 20% contained as of 8:45 a.m., according to Texas A&M Forest Service officials.
“I have determined that extraordinary measures must be taken to alleviate the suffering of people and to protect or rehabilitate property both public and private,” the disaster declaration reads.
The notice is effective immediately through at least the next seven days.
Lone Star College campuses in Montgomery County are operating as normal, according to school officials.
The wildfire, which started Wednesday evening, prompted evacuations for residents living west of Cleveland near Grant Lake. Several shelters in the area were accepting those forced to evacuate, including animals and livestock.
Here’s a map of the Sam Houston National Forest, which shows the fire area in its southern region, between Conroe and Cleveland a bit north of State Highway 105. The Chron has a resource page here with more data. I could get to a spot on SH105 close to the fire in about an hour’s drive. I must say, it hadn’t really occurred to me that I’d be that proximate to a big fire.
More from HPM:
The Pauline Road fire— which first ignited in the Sam Houston National Forest on the southwestern corner of San Jacinto County Wednesday afternoon— was 20 percent contained early Thursday. It wasn’t immediately clear how the fire ignited.
“We are expecting the humidity to drop, the wind to pick up and the temperature to rise a little bit, which is not helpful for fire fighting efforts,” said Jason Millsaps, executive director of Montgomery County’s emergency management department. “What we saw yesterday was a very fast moving head on this fire. That’s very possible again today.”
Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough said that overnight crews made efforts to protect structures and the areas within the path of the massive fire. No structures had received damage as of Thursday morning.
[…]
The cause of the fire was still under investigation. It wasn’t immediately clear if any controlled burns were conducted in the area at the time the fire started, said Matthew Ford, a public information officer with Texas A&M Forest Service.
“Right now we have multiple resources on scene with more throughout the day,” Ford said.
A later update says that there were two controlled burns within hours of the fire breaking out, so that may be the cause. This fire is not the biggest one currently active in the state, but the larger ones out there are almost completely contained. This one still has a ways to go.
Which has an effect on the greater area.
Thursday morning, the National Weather Service has placed much of Southeast Texas under a red flag warning because of the increased risk of fast-spreading fires caused by low humidity, dry vegetation and especially breezy winds.
The red flag warning, which is in effect from 1 p.m. Thursday to 7 p.m., applies to Harris, Trinity, Madison, Walker, San Jacinto, Polk, Burleson, Brazos, Washington, Grimes, Montgomery, Liberty, Colorado, Austin, Waller, Houston, Chambers, Wharton, Fort Bend, Jackson, Matagorda, Brazoria and Galveston counties.
After the passage of the latest cold front, weather service forecasters on Thursday expect the region to face blustery north winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts as strong as 25 mph. The fierce winds, like blowing on kindling to start a small campfire, could hasten the growth of a wildfire or spread its flames and embers.
Meanwhile, the dry air and rain-starved vegetation provide ideal conditions for fires to rapidly develop in intensity and get out of control. Relative humidity levels will sink to as low as 18%, the weather service said. More of Southeast Texas is becoming “abnormally dry,” a precursor stage for drought, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor data.
The Eyewall discussed the dry and windy conditions much of the state faces now last week, with a warning about wildfire risk. Not much to do except pay attention, respond to alerts and updates as needed, and hope they contain this quickly. Stay safe out there.
UPDATE: As of 4:30 PM yesterday, the fire was almost 50% contained. So hopefully by the end of the day today it will be largely under control.