Authorities may have been successful in banning many fireworks on the fourth of July, but working fires ran amok. As of this writing, the worst occurred in an area that connects Montgomery, Harris, and Liberty Counties.
Captain Ian Ramirez with the Huffman Volunteer Fire Department said it was around 1 p.m. when that agency was dispatched to a grass and woods fire near FM 2100 and Huffman-New Caney Road. Crews arrived to find thick widespread smoke but had difficulty locating its source. They were finally able to locate the fire, which had no easy access, forcing them to use driveways, ranch gates, and pipeline rights of way.
Huffman Fire initially called for assistance from the Plum Grove Fire Department. By the time the fire was under control six hours later, a total of 15 agencies provided mutual aid from all three counties, along with the Texas Forest Service, which provided two bulldozers. Firefighters had to deal not only with the intense heat from the fire but with record-breaking 100-degree temperatures.
“We got the fire contained successfully before it crossed over a creek into a residential area of New Caney,” Ramirez said.
The fire was stopped within 200 yards from 70 to 80 homes in Roman Forest and the Peach Creek subdivision.
The brush fire was a first for Ramirez, who is a native of Long Island New York, and said he was used to large building fires, not large tracts of land. Ramirez said the weather in southeast Texas was very hot, but he enjoys his work.
No cause for the three-county fire has been determined as of this writing.
The following area fire agencies were involved:
Montgomery County fire departments
Porter
New Caney
Splendora
Needham Fire Rescue
Bennett
Cut and Shoot
Liberty County fire departments
Tarkington
Cypress Lakes
Cleveland
Hwy 321
Plum Grove
Harris County fire departments
Huffman
Crosby
Atascocita
Sheldon Community
