{"id":266549,"date":"2013-07-03T17:00:10","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T22:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ktbb.com\/post\/?p=266549"},"modified":"2013-07-04T16:54:05","modified_gmt":"2013-07-04T21:54:05","slug":"dry-independence-day-conditions-worry-east-texas-fire-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=266549","title":{"rendered":"Dry Independence Day Conditions Worry East Texas Fire Officials"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"wildfirer\"<\/a>EAST TEXAS — Two weeks without rain has East Texas fire officials concerned about Fourth of July fireworks. That’s according to KETK and the Longview News-Journal. The West Harrison Volunteer Fire Department has battled three small grass fires since Saturday and will staff firefighters at the fire station all day Thursday, said spokesman Ryan Freeman. \u201cMost fireworks burn at 1,200 degrees,\u201d said Freeman, who has been part of the West Harrison VFD the past nine years. \u201cGrass will burn at 200 to 300 degrees. We\u2019ll have people at the station and on standby all day.\u201d <\/p>\n

While there are no countywide burn bans in effect across Northeast Texas, the lack of precipitation and low humidity have increased the likelihood fireworks could spark fires. The National Weather Service in Shreveport reported Tuesday that Longview is almost 7 inches below normal rainfall for the year. The last measurable precipitation was recorded June 17. <\/p>\n

Brad Smith, wildland fire analyst for the Texas A&M Forest Service, said East Texas is about two weeks of summer-time conditions away from being under serious consideration for a burn ban. However, Smith said, the absence of burn bans shouldn\u2019t keep people from being safe with fireworks during holiday celebrations. \u201cFireworks can certainly be a source of ignition,\u201d Smith said. \u201cPeople need to be thinking about where they are going to be using fireworks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gregg County Fire Marshal Chad Hogue echoed Smith\u2019s sentiments, adding that aerial fireworks can pose a significant threat to people in suburban neighborhoods. \u201cIf people are going to be using aerial fireworks, they need to make sure they don\u2019t shoot over people\u2019s houses,\u201d Hogue said. \u201cThey need to be in a clear, open area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hogue said dry pine needles on rooftops of homes can easily ignite if a firework is thrown into the mix. Hogue and other fire marshals in Texas are closely monitoring the threat of fire with the Keetch-Byram Drought Index, or KBDI. The index measures the risk of fire on a scale from 0-800. On Tuesday, Gregg County had an index of 603. <\/p>\n

Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt said the risk would have to exceed 700 on the scale to put a burn ban into place. \u201cWe conference with the sheriff and fire marshals weekly, and we did not think we needed to issue a burn ban at this time,\u201d Stoudt said.<\/p>\n

Upshur County Judge Dean Fowler said county commissioners would meet July 15 to decide whether to issue a burn ban. \u201cCurrently, Upshur County is just on the borderline of needing a burn ban,\u201d Fowler said. \u201cPeople need to exercise caution when using fireworks or barbecuing outside.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EAST TEXAS — Two weeks without rain has East Texas fire officials concerned about Fourth of July fireworks. That’s according to KETK and the Longview News-Journal. The West Harrison Volunteer Fire Department has battled three small grass fires since Saturday and will staff firefighters at the fire station all day Thursday, said spokesman Ryan Freeman. … Continue reading Dry Independence Day Conditions Worry East Texas Fire Officials<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-07 14:02:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=266549"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266782,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266549\/revisions\/266782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=266549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=266549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=266549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}