KRATZMC

Yesterday was exciting as I battled a huge grass fire which threatened my home. Around 1500 hrs CMT, my neighbor (Brandon) notified me a fire was moving towards our ranches. We climbed my 30 ft tower and saw the fire about 300 yards to the S/E and coming fast. The wind was light but continually shifting so it was hard to predicts which way it would go.

We got into our ATV’s and filled up our garden sprayers with water and shovels, to check our surrounding fenclines. The fire completely skirted my property but hit both my neighbors, working its way about 60 yards onto their property. We cut a fire break on the inside of the fence line and put out about 40 small fires within the perimeter.

County fire arrived and six units used our ranches to stage and used the portable sprayers to finish off the hots spots we couldn’t put out. It was quite a show with the planes and helicopters circling around, dropping water and retardants. All the cattle were moved to the lower acreage and all are safe.

After 8 hrs of shoveling, scraping and spraying flames, I ended up completely exhausted with five blisters on my hands from the hand tools. We attribute the lessened fire damage to the cows who graze down the grass along the property lines, keeping the grass from growing tall.

Aerial spotter calling out the Hot Spots

You can see the fire break and Williamson County Fire putting out small fires in the perimeter. It was interesting to see the great job they did and watch our tax money put to work.

Click on the picture for an Official news story and videos.

Its nice to have neighbors who have a big family and toys. I am sure the fire break prevented the fire from threatening our houses.

Some small fires were still smoldering this morning but the danger has pretty much passed. I am sore and tired but thankful we were spared anything major. I finally got to play “Fireman” so I crossed it off my list of “Things to Do Before I Die” and listed it under Earthquakes and Tornadoes.

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