By Greg Kendall-Ball
The Abilene Reporter-News
STONEWALL COUNTY, Texas — Stonewall County Judge Ronnie Moorhead sleeps with his boots by his bed, and his emergency beeper on his bedside table.
And even though his county has received more than 4 inches of rain so far this year, whenever the beeper goes off, he instantly assumes it’s a wildfire.
“Whenever that tone goes out, I shoot up and my first thought is, it’s another wildfire. We wait to see if they call out the (volunteer fire department) or the (emergency medical service),” Moorhead said.
“Recently it’s been EMS. Those poor souls have to run out, and we get to go back to bed for a bit.”
It’s understandable that Moorhead is spooked by the threat of wildfire.
In 2011 the Swenson Fire that ignited April 6 north of Aspermont was the first of large fires that destroyed nearly 4 million Texas acres.
It was the first fire of the season to cross the 100,000-acre mark and left nearly a third of Stonewall County charred.
Five days later Stonewall County firefighters were battling the 160,000-acre Cooper Mountain Ranch Fire in neighboring Kent County.
By mid-April of last year, more than 1.5 million acres had been burned across the state. This year the Texas Forest Service reported less than 15,000 acres have been burned.
But the county has received 4.19 inches of rain this year, compared with 0.56 by the same time in 2011.
“We’ve had rain. We’re one of the few counties up here that’s gotten pretty sizable rains. We took the burn ban off in December or January and haven’t had to put it back on yet,” Moorhead said. Despite the rain, Stonewall County is the only Big Country county listed as being entirely in D4-level, or exceptional, drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Exceptional is the most severe level of drought on the drought monitor’s scale.
On the other end of the spectrum, both geographically and meteorologically, Erath County in the eastern Big Country is the only county that is not experiencing any drought, according to the monitor.
Eleven counties, including Taylor, are listed as moderate or severe; seven are listed as extreme or exceptional; and four are listed as abnormally dry.
The drought monitor tracks long-term patterns, so recent rains may not have much effect on a country’s drought rating.
And even though Stonewall County is considered to be at the most severe level of drought, the Texas Forest Service considers it to be only at only moderate risk for wildfire outbreak, the second-lowest rating on its scale.
Even so, Moorhead isn’t lulled into a false sense of security.
“If these hot southwesterly winds start blowing, after about two or three weeks, I’m afraid to say we’d be right back where we were this time last year,” he said.
County residents, he said, have taken the lessons learned in last year’s fires to heart, and are taking steps to prevent wildfires even as the county remains green and vibrant, “Everyone’s pretty well attuned to the reality of the situation. They’ve figured it out. They don’t need county officials to hold a meeting to tell them how to keep their property safe; they’re doing it on their own,” he said.
Landowners are clearing out vacant lots and cutting fire breaks around their pastures, Moorhead said.
Having survived the harrowing 2011 fire season has radically altered the community’s perspective on wildfires, he said.
“We’re living in a whole new world now. Before last year, a 15,000acre fire would have been legendary. After, we would hear about one that size and say, ‘Let’s just go knock that booger out and be done with it,’ ” he said.
If these hot southwesterly winds start blowing, after about two or three weeks, I’m afraid to say we’d be right back where we were this time last year.”
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