Although there is a burn ban currently in effect, Brown County Commissioners approved an exception to allow the Texas Forest Service and participating firefighters to burn acreage at Camp Bowie during the annual Wildfire Academy.
The academy will feature wildland firefighting training for both paid and volunteer departments, as well as courses focusing on safety and fire operations in the wildland urban interface.
Chris Weber with the Dam Volunteer Fire Department of Lake Brownwood brought the request and explained that the burns will take place during the Wildfire Academy February 13th-17th. The fires will be conducted in two locations, the first being a practice burn of 300-400 acre area in Camp Bowie Training Area III, and the second being a 1000-1200 acre prescribed burn in Training Area IV.
Weber stated that the prescribed burn will be conducted on Friday to Saturday with multiple units on scene to contain the fire. He explained that there will be bulldozers brought in from the Texas Forest Service’s Strike Team from Merkel which will prepare the area with fire breaks. During the burn, there will be firefighters attending the academy along with members of the strike team participating utilizing approximately 10-15 TFS fire trucks and 2 trucks from Dam Volunteer Fire Department. The exception will be in effect from February 12-18, as approved by commissioners during Monday afternoon’s meeting of the court.
County Judge Ray West explained exceptions to burn bans issued by the court.
“Just because there is a burn ban does not mean that there are not exceptions to the burn ban. Anyone wishing to burn under the proper circumstances may file a request for exception to the burn ban with his/her commissioner,” stated West. “That involves a notice to the commissioner, then the commissioner notifies the sheriff’s department and the local fire department, whether it be the City of Brownwood or a volunteer fire department, and measures are taken under the plan to control any undesired burning.”
The size of the burns planned over the next week are significant, typically a large smoke plume is seen each year during the prescribed burn.
For more information about burn bans and prohibitions/exceptions, please contact the Brown County Commissioners office or your local fire department.
Pictured above is the plume of smoke from the prescribed burn at a previous Wildfire Academy at Camp Bowie.
