(Guadalupe County) – A grass fire is never just a grass fire and as the area continues to battle through dangerously dry vegetation and hotter than normal temperatures, area firefighters say the importance of protecting the people and property of Guadalupe County only becomes greater.
Proving that there is lots to lose during a grass fire is York Creek Assistant Chief Scott Robinson. Robinson says there’s a trickle-down effect when these rural portions of the county are destroyed.
“People think a grass is not a big deal because a grass fire is just a grass fire and the grass grows back but in a community like ours, a grass fire can become a very catastrophic event especially with the amount of agriculture that we have in this area and when a lot of the farmers are in this area lose a crop to a wildfire, that is also their livelihood or when a pasture burns off because of a wildfire, that’s their grazing grasses for their cattle and other livestock so it has a very detrimental effect beyond just what some people may think as just a grass fire. It can actually impact the economy. It can impact an individual’s livelihood and in a world of shortages and product delays and everything else that we have been dealing with for the last several years, the food supply of course is one of them and anytime that any aspect of that gets affected anywhere on a global scale all the way down to a local level, it can have a triple down effect,” said Robinson.
With the pattern of drought and excessive fire behavior and wildfire outbreaks in the foreseeable future, Robinson says area fire fighters have no choice but to stay vigilant. He says while all summers are tough, this one is proving to be among the most challenging in recent years.
An outdoor burn ban remains in effect for the unincorporated areas of the county.
According to the Guadalupe County Fire Marshal’s Office, since the beginning of the summer, there have been 79 brush and grass fires and a total of 14 structure fires in the county.