Series of fires blaze across Hays County
Dalton Sweat & Madi Telschow
Century News Staff
A wildfire broke out on the edge of the Wimberley Valley last week, burning an estimated 44 acres over five days before being contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
Named the Hermosa Fire, it started at around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 3 in the back of the River Mountain Ranch subdivision. According to officials, the fire started at the site of new home construction near a pool that was being built at 720 Bluff View Drive. The specific cause of the fire is still being investigated.
“When we first got there, there was a lot of smoke and a lot of fire down by the pool going through the trees and into the side of a canyon,” Wimberley Fire Chief Carroll Czichos said. “It just took off from there.”
Being in the midst of one of the worst droughts in the history of the state, prospects were not good when the fire first started.
“The first couple of hours, I was trying to figure out how many houses we were going to lose,” Czichos said.
There were 14 primary home structures threatened. Only one received any damage at all.
There were many complicating factors to the fire fight, including treacherous terrain and high temperatures. One of these, according to Czichos, was that Wimberley Fire and Rescue spent 14 hours the day before helping fight the Smoke Rider Fire at the Hays-Blanco County line — a fire that spanned over 1,200 acres.
In the beginning, it was largely the Wimberley, North Hays and South Hays fire departments that were fighting the fire. Dozens of fire departments and state and federal assistance showed up throughout the duration of the fire, including San Marcos, Buda, Kyle, the Texas A&M Forest Service and the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System. But with the Hermosa Fire being the third to burn over 40 acres in Hays County in the last two weeks, local emergency teams were being stretched thin.
On Tuesday, July 27, an estimated 70-acre fire burned through part of Buda near the Coves of Cimarron neighborhood. The grass fire started when a cattle trailer backed into a guide wire to a telephone pole, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
In an emailed letter on Aug. 4, Hays County Commissioner Walt Smith, Precinct 4, requested a county-wide disaster designation.
“A rash of fires have beset Hays County and taxed our resources as well as those of our emergency service districts, citizens and partner municipalities,” he wrote. “From providing storage for displaced animals to the depletion of manpower and supplies to our first responders, the demands on the county and our partnering agencies and municipalities have quickly depleted the ability to respond and stretched our resources to their fullest. It's for these reasons… I request you act immediately and declare a county-wide state of emergency for drought and wildfire. This action would allow our partners to apply for, and hopefully receive, additional funding, aid, and resources from governmental entities outside the county for which they otherwise may not qualify.”
No state of emergency has been declared in Hays County as of Tuesday, Aug. 9. Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra could not immediately be reached for comment.
In the meantime, the Hays County community has demonstrated an outpouring of support for all of its affected home- and landowners.
“Have you seen the Wimberley Fire Station?” Hays County Public Information Officer Kim Hilsenbeck said. “It almost looks like a food pantry right now it is so full of donations… all over Hays County you can be divided in any way you want to say, but when these things happen everyone forgets that and they come together as one community. You cannot discount that for what a great place Hays County is to live.”