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Central Texas Firefighters Brace For High Winds


Tuesday's Red Flag Warning has law enforcement on high alert. But firefighters say if a major wildfire breaks out, they are ready to go. Officials say the dry brush is already a danger but when you add these heavy winds we're seeing, it's a recipe for disaster.

"With the winds the way they are at 20-25 miles per hour, it doesn't take long for a small fire to expand into a large fire and the quicker we can get somebody there, the quicker we can eliminate that spread," says Travis County ESD2 Assistant Chief Tom Crane.

Despite the fact that their effort to get extra funding was shot down this week, Travis County ESD2, also known as the Pflugerville Fire Department brought in extra staff on Tuesday.

The additional firefighters are being used to make sure their brush trucks are manned at all times. It's during these times of extreme weather that Crane says adding staff is necessary. "Just to have them serviced and manned in case a fire does erupt and the crews are out of the station we have people there that are specifically assigned to the brush trucks that can respond to the calls," he says.

Last week, several small brush fires erupted as a result of the wind and dry conditions. But Crane says that with the extra staff that was on standby, they were able to take care of them quickly.

By Lydia Pantazes