The wildfire along and to the west of RM 2831 on August 18, 2020 burned almost 400 acres and called for the voluntary evacuation of two neighborhoods. But only one home was lost and no injuries were sustained, thanks to the efforts of the dozens of fire agencies who responded to the emergency.
In an interview this week, Horseshoe Bay Fire Chief Brent Batla said the initial call came in at 3:19 p.m. Thursday afternoon. The fire had multiple ignition points, determined by the Texas A&M Forest Service to have been caused by a vehicle dragging a chain. “It quickly developed into three separate fast moving fires which made it very difficult for the initial limited resources,” Batla said, so he “almost immediately requested assistance from the Burnet South and North Brush Fire Taskforce, multiple units from Llano, Texas A&M Forest Service crews and air attack, and Balcones Canyon Fire Rescue.” In essence, the scenario HSB FD faced on Thursday at The Trails was the equivalent of going instantly from a one alarm fire to a five alarm plus special resources fire.
Batla said the HSB FD priorities are 1) life safety, 2) incident stabilization, and 3) property conservation. “We focus all efforts on rescue first, we then try to stop the forward progress of the fire and try to save as many structures as we can.”
HSB Fire Department responded with an almost full departmental emergency call, with all HSB apparatus responding. Batla said, “The Marble Falls Fire Department was kind enough to place an additional staffed unit at our station during the fire to run other calls as needed. This was in addition to the Brush Fire units and command staff from Marble Falls assisting at the fire.”
Firefighters faced unusual challenges with Thursday's fire – the blaze running the length of The Trails from “multiple heads” of the three separate running fires, wind, high temperatures, low brush moisture, and low humidity. “All arriving companies did an amazing job with the issues that were presented with the Wildland Urban Interface firefighting at The Trails. One big factor that helped us significantly was that The Trails is a Firewise community and had completed quite a bit of fire mitigation efforts prior to Thursday's incident.”
In an interview this week, Heather Gonzales with the Texas A&M Forest Service explained that a Wildland Urban Interface is a zone in which human structures and infrastructure are in or near undeveloped wildland or natural vegetation. “A wildfire occurring within a WUI will be inherently more complex than a similar-sized fire occurring in an area with no structures within the next several miles. Resources will be focused not only on suppression of the wildfire, but also for the life safety and protection of property for the residents of the affected communities.”
Several homes in The Trails were threatened by the wildfire, and some emergency scanner reports alerted first responders to what were initially thought to be inevitable house fires. But Batla said those alerts did not result in any structure fires because of “the good fire attack and the community's firewise mitigation efforts.” Unfortunately, one home in Blue Lake located near the border with The Trails was destroyed by the fire.
On Monday, Batla said the fire is 100% contained but the HSB FD will not consider it “out” until there is no more smoldering. He anticipates “closing the incident” some time around Thursday, or sooner if we get rain.
In less than two hours after the initial fire report on Thursday, the Highland Lakes Crisis Network had set up a cooling and relief station at the entrance to The Trails with chilled bottles of water and Gatorade, fresh fruit, cold watermelon, meals and snacks, and folding chairs to help refresh the firefighters during their short breaks. With sweat dripping down her forehead on Friday afternoon as the temperature reached 108 degrees, Angie Martinez, one of the many wonderful volunteers staffing the HLCN relief station, said the HLCN “is able to care for our heroes because of the community wide support it receives.” The HLCN is a 501(c)3 non-profit supported by donations. In kind donations of food and drinks were continuously dropped off at the relief station by local restaurants, businesses and individuals during the fire fighting last week.
Martinez and the other HLCN volunteers staffed the relief station until 10:30 p.m. Thursday night, then they showed back up Friday from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. And because the firefighters were still on the job on Saturday, so were the HLCN volunteers, setting up at 8 a.m. and finally pulling up stakes around 5:45 p.m. once it was announced that the fire was 100% contained.
This was the first time HLCN put the bright red Numinous Trailer into service. The trailer, used only for emergencies, is stocked with cases of bottled water and some supplies, and HLCN is still working to fully equip the trailer with other necessities such as a first aid kit. One item the trailer didn't stock last week was Red Bull. But when a firefighter asked for Red Bull for a little energy perk on Thursday, a HSB resident overheard the request, ran home and returned within minutes with a supply of Red Bull. Another HSB resident stopped at the trailer and found they had no ice cream. She left and returned with ice cream cups, a perfect August treat for the firefighters.
The HLCN volunteers provided more than just physical necessities for the firefighters, often joining in prayer with those who also needed spiritual support, and always offering words of encouragement and thanks. A Texas Forest Service employee said he had never been treated so well during an emergency as he was by HLCN.
Fire Chief Batla is very appreciative of the HLCN. “I cannot say enough about the Highland Lakes Crisis Network. What an amazing group! Because of them, we were able to quickly rehydrate crews. They stayed the entire time and helped to feed, provide drinks for, and rehab ALL crews.”
Water to fight the fire came from HSB water hydrants, mutual aid water tenders (trucks that carry a large amount of water to supply brush trucks), and lake water for the aerial attack. The Texas A&M Forest Service provided the aerial drops of both lake water and fire retardant. All HSB fire hydrants are supplied by the city's water system. Of course, a fire, especially a large wildfire, pulls a high volume of water from the system. HSB Utility Director Jeff Koska said his department works closely with the Fire Department when a fire incident arises. “We always stay on top of the pressure and volume to ensure adequate fire fighting capabilities,” Koska explained. Although The Trails fire fight drew heavily on the city's water system, Koska said the Utility Department was able to ensure no water problems arose during the higher demand.
HSB Police Chief Rocky Wardlow described the Police Department's role in assisting during the fire. “We had folks on roadblocks and security detail to keep 2831 clear of traffic and onlookers out of the area. We had folks making sure residents knew a voluntary evacuation was in place and when and where chemical airdrops were coming. We performed recon for fire crews. Our drone was deployed early on but as the fire increased in size we had to bring it back down due to the updraft turbulence and the incoming fire aircraft that was soon to arrive.” Wardlow was at the command post coordinating efforts with officers from outside agencies such as Llano County Sheriff's Office, Sunrise Beach Police Department, LCRA Rangers, Llano County Constable, Burnet County Sheriff's Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks & Wildlife Game Wardens, Texas Forrest Service Investigators, and Arson Investigators from the State Fire Marshal Office.
Wardlow cautions residents to give a second thought before doing anything that could potentially spark a fire, such as shredding, mowing, shooting fireworks, welding, or tossing a cigarette out of a moving vehicle. Before towing a trailer, make sure the safety chains can’t touch the pavement when driving down the road. In August 2018, the city experienced a brush fire near the airport that burned 311 acres and threatened 150 homes, but thanks to firefighters' efforts the flames got close to only two homes. That fire was caused by a mulcher along the north side of Hwy 71 that created a spark from the equipment which ignited some dry tender. Although the mulcher had two spotters with fire extinguishers attending it, they were unable to control the initial fire, so dozens of emergency crews responded and bring it under control.
Wardlow echoed a thankful community's thoughts. “It was a tremendous response and my hat is off to Chief Batla and all the firefighters at HSB FD, as well as all the many volunteer and community fire departments, and state and federal resources that were deployed. I think I can sum it up by saying we dodged a bullet this time, and I attribute that to the fire personnel and Trails' resident Helen Smith who instituted the Firewise program in The Trails many years ago. The program is designed to practice preventative measures in order to reduce wildfire risks in neighborhoods.”
In an interview with The Beacon this week, Smith agreed that being a Firewise community helped saved their homes. But she also credited the fire crews who responded so professionally and faithfully. “The HSB Police and Fire Departments were on it immediately and stayed with us non stop for over 72 hours. In addition, we had help from multiple different fire fighting crews.” As a Firewise community, Smith said most Trails neighbors knew to pack a “to go bag” with important papers, medicine, cell phones and chargers. “Overall, we as a group, were quite composed and confident in the abilities of our first responders.” Smith credited Mike Walsh, The Trails developer, with the vision and foresight he had back in 2001 when designing The Trails. “Creating hiking and horse trails was a natural progression to a Firewise community as those trails would provide firefighters with defensible buffer zones needed to protect future homes.” The Trails has had the distinction of being Firewise community for seventeen years, being among the very first in Texas.
Besides the municipal fire departments from HSB, Marble Falls, and Burnet, plus Llano and Burnet County Fire Departments, volunteer fire departments responded to assist in The Trails' fire fight including VFD's from Betram, Blanco County, Buchanan Dam, Burnet, Cassie, Cottonwood Shores, East Lake Buchanan, Granite Shoals, Hoover Valley, Johnson City, Kingsland, Llano, Marble Falls, Oakalla, Round Mountain, Sandy Harbor, Spicewood and Sunrise Beach.
Fire Chief Batla said it was indeed a team effort. “The initial crews did an amazing job. All of the mutual aid crews that came in to help HSB also did an amazing job, and we are so grateful for them. As far as the city of HSB, it was definitely a city wide effort, especially with the water supply from the Utility Department and the public safety provided by the Police Department. I would also like to thank all of the other entities and non-fire agencies that immediately came together to help.”
Firefighters and governmental agencies plan and prepare for the unpredictable. Our lives, our homes and our safety are in their hands in ways great and small each and every day. On August 13, 2020, the men and women of over 25 local and state agencies responded to the challenge and kept this community safe. We are all grateful.
