Bastrop, Tx–Repeatedly since Saturday firefighters believed they had a wildfire contained at Camp Swift, only to be faced with flames spreading into new areas.
Helicopters were called out for the third day Monday to drop water in an effort to strop the fire’s advance, said Bastrop County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Fisher.
The fire was reported about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, possibly sparked by Texas Army Guard training activity involving explosives at the facility north of Bastrop.
The fire had ravaged more than 300 acres by Monday afternoon, said Fisher.
Natural fuels, including ancient post oaks, are now so dry from the ongoing drought that almost the least spark from the fire will ignite new flames outside areas where firefighters hoped they had established control, he said.
Davis, were any publicly funded fire departments, emergency response teams, or other similar entities involved in fighting this fire? If so, which ones? And if so, will the Texas National Guard, the State of Texas, or the United States reimburse those entities for the costs incurred?
If any volunteer fire departments were involved, will they get some kind of reimbursement?
Doran, this may be more than you want to know, but here goes. At least two state agencies were directly involved, the Guard and Texas Forest Service. The guard deployed some manpower, two bulldozers (at least) and, I assume, the helicopters which came out at least three times.
Also on the scene with firefighters and heavy equipment was TFS, though many of those resources were pulled off during the weekend to help with a far bigger fire raging in the Pecos area, if I recall rightly.
As for the local forces, the Bastrop VFD was a major player, and I would be surprised if some Elgin folks and equipment were not also called in–but I don’t know that for certain. Both these departments are now at least partly funded with tax money through separate Emergency Services Districts. Guard property, of course pays no taxes.
It would not be fair to say, however, that local agencies protect the Guard property for nothing. Some years ago that was largely the case, and it was not hard to overhear grumbling about the situation. But now Guard officials are much more cooperative and try to contribute in other ways e.g., 1) TFS conducts a whole program of controlled burns at the camp aimed at reducing the risk of more dangerous and descructive wildfires, 2) the camp donates classrooms and other facilities each October for an annual Wildfire Training Academy (organized by TFS and local emergency officials) which many local firefighters attend, 3) the Guard has promised to build two fire stations at the camp, one of which will be staffed out of the Bastrop department and the other by the Elgin-McDade organization. There may be other levels and types of cooperation which I’m not aware of, but the local grumbling has largely fallen silent.
Does that help?
Thank you so much. Your response is helpful and very informative. I appreciate the work that went into answering my questions.
Perhaps I should have mentioned earlier that currently there are only two (maybe three) paid firefighters in Bastrop County (all employed through the Bluebonnet Acres
VFD and the ESD which supports it). Every other person in the local fire service (Bastrop, Elgin, McDade, Paige, Smithville, HOP, etc) is a volunteer. No pay, no benefits. County funds help buy workman’s compensation insurance coverage for injuries, however.