08/27/2026
🔥 **YES, LARGE GRASS FIRES CAN HAPPEN HERE.**
With several fires burning in **Van Zandt County**, this is a good reminder for all of us: wildfires are not just something that happens in the mountains or somewhere out west.
When homes, neighborhoods, barns and businesses meet pastures, fields and undeveloped land, we have what is called the **Wildland-Urban Interface, or WUI**.
And in Texas, that can be right outside your back door.
🚨 **IF A GRASS FIRE IS THREATENING YOUR AREA:**
🔥 **Call 911** if the fire has not already been reported. Make the call from a safe location.
📱 **Pay attention to official alerts.** Follow your local fire department, emergency management and law enforcement agencies for evacuation information, road closures and other instructions.
🚗 **If you are told to evacuate, GO.** Do not wait until you can see flames from your house. Grass fires can move quickly, especially when the wind picks up.
🛣️ **Know more than one way out of your neighborhood.** Your normal route may be blocked by fire, smoke or emergency equipment.
🎒 Keep important items where you can grab them quickly, including medications, identification, phones and chargers, important documents and essential supplies.
🐕 **Have a plan for pets and livestock BEFORE you need it.** Keep carriers, leashes and evacuation equipment accessible.
🏠 If there is time **and it is safe to do so**, close windows and doors and move easily combustible items such as patio cushions, mats and other materials away from your home.
Most importantly: **Do not stay behind to protect property if you have been told to evacuate.**
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⚠️ **NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT NOT STARTING ONE.**
When vegetation is dry, something that seems harmless can become the spark that starts a major fire.
❌ **Use caution when mowing or shredding.** Mower blades striking rocks or metal can create sparks. Check the area for rocks, metal and debris before you begin, and avoid mowing during the hottest, driest part of the day when possible.
❌ **Be extremely careful when welding, grinding or doing other spark-producing work outdoors.** Clear dry vegetation from the area and keep a water source or fire extinguisher nearby.
🧯 **Keep a water can, charged garden hose or fire extinguisher nearby** anytime you are doing work that could create heat or sparks.
❌ **Don't drag trailer chains.** Chains striking pavement can throw sparks directly into dry roadside grass.
❌ **Don't drive through, park, or idle vehicles in tall, dry grass.** Hot exhaust components underneath a vehicle can ignite vegetation.
🚭 **NEVER throw a cigarette out of a vehicle window.** That roadside ditch may be nothing but dry fuel waiting for an ignition source.
🔥 **Avoid outdoor burning during hot, dry, or windy conditions, and ALWAYS obey burn bans and local restrictions.**
A little extra caution now can prevent a very big problem later.
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🏡 **GIVE YOUR HOME A FIGHTING CHANCE: CREATE DEFENSIBLE SPACE**
You may not be able to control where a wildfire starts, but you CAN reduce the amount of fuel around your home.
**0–5 FEET FROM YOUR HOME**
Keep this area as free of combustible material as possible.
✅ Remove dead leaves, grass and vegetation
✅ Clean leaves and debris from gutters, porches and decks
✅ Don't stack firewood against the house
✅ Move cardboard, lumber and other combustible materials away from structures
✅ Keep vegetation immediately around your home well maintained
**5–30 FEET**
Regular yard maintenance can make a BIG difference.
✅ Keep grass and weeds mowed
✅ Remove dead vegetation, limbs and brush
✅ Trim lower tree limbs
✅ Keep shrubs and vegetation from creating one continuous path of fuel toward your home
✅ Keep areas around propane tanks, sheds and other outbuildings maintained
**30–100 FEET**
Continue reducing heavy vegetation and accumulations of dead grass, leaves, limbs and brush.
The goal isn't to turn your property into a parking lot. 🌳
The goal is to **slow the fire down, reduce the heat around your home and give firefighters a safer area in which to work.**
🌳 **FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CREATING DEFENSIBLE SPACE**
Visit the **Texas A&M Forest Service Homeowner Prevention & Preparedness** resources for information on defensible space, fire-resistant landscaping, home hardening, evacuation planning and other steps you can take to reduce your wildfire risk.
👉 **tfsweb.tamu.edu/wildfire-and-other-disasters/homeowners-prevention-and-preparedness/**
🔥 **Grass fire. Brush fire. Wildfire. WUI fire. Whatever we call it, the lesson is the same:**
**It CAN happen here.
Be ready to GO.
Don't be the SPARK.
Give your home SPACE.**
*NOT HUNT COUNTY, however, several Hunt County Fire Departments assisting in Mutual Aid
MASSIVE GRASS/BRUSH FIRE
What started as a small grass fire in a ditch off of FM 751 near Wills Point, has now developed into a several 100 acre fire, with multiple agencies responding. We will try to put together the breakdown when calls went out around 12:30 this afternoon. We will continue to update this post.
**UPDATE:
As stated above, fire started in a roadside ditch, and quickly grew within minutes to a 5 acre fire and growing. Cattle had to be moved, structures catching, roads closed for Tanker Operations, Rehab desperately needed. Pets endangered.
Agencies assisting thus far are Wills Point FD, Rolling Oaks FD, South Hunt County FIre Rescue, Elmo FD, Canton FD, Texas Forestry Service and College Mound FD.
