Wildfire Risk Remains High In North Texas
JOHNSON COUNTY, Texas (CBS11) - With tinderbox conditions common across North Texas, the wildfire threat is real.
Johnson County on Wednesday became the most recent North Texas county to implement burn bans to try and limit the risk.
It didn't help at the Delozier's home.
"You can't fix stupid," says Gerald Delozier, with a self-deprecating laugh. "I have smoked on days like this before... never with the wind out of the south."
Delozier says he was putting some ribs in his smoker this morning for the bible study pot luck tonight. When he popped back outside to check on them, the ribs were fine-- but, everything around the smoker was burning.
He yelled for his wife, Lois, to call 911 while he grabbed a plastic broom to fight the flames. The Deloziers say Alvarado firefighters arrived quickly and kept the flames from spreading-- although they'd already burned right up to the wood frame home.
"Fire creates its own wind," says Capt. Brad Hargrove with the Alvarado Fire Department. "You can add additional wind to the conditions we already sustained, so conditions like this with the right fuel load and the right moisture content.. they can really move across a community very quick."
It's the kind of devastation that's become too common across the country this dry season. And now Gerald Delozier knows that too well.
"I just didn't think it would spread as fast as it did," says Delozier. "But with the wind like it is... I better understand Parker (County) over here, now." He knows the fire was a very close call for the family's home. And the decision to fire up the smoker? "It was a bad call," he freely admits, "it was a bad call."
