3 firemen injured battling wildfire
3 firemen injured battling wildfire
23 June 2009
published by www.chron.com
USA —
Three firemen with the Texas Forest Service were injured Monday and Tuesday battling wildfires that starting to intensify as the Houston-area copes with a hotter and dryer summer than usual.
The firemen were hurt battling a 200-acre inferno near Huntsville in Walker County. Two suffered from heat exhaustion and one suffered minor burns before he could crawl inside his emergency aluminum fire shelter.
This fire spread rapidly. The flames jumped from the crown of a one tree to another, said Justice Jones, spokesman for the fire service.
Another fire erupted about the same time Monday afternoon. It spread across 20 acres about 2 miles west of Interstate 45 in Montgomery County.
It was less than a quarter of a mile from residential housing when we stopped it, Jones said.
Tuesday afternoon, firefighters were still putting out hotspots in the Walker County fire. The Montgomery County fire was tapped out late Monday. No injuries were reported in that blaze.
Authorities said they believe the Montgomery County fire was started by someone burning debris in violation of the countys ban. The cause of the Walker County fire remains under investigation.
