KYLE FIRE PUBLIC INFORMATION
On a day when fire danger was deemed “dangerous, potentially historic” by the National Weather Service Austin-San Antonio, a fire burned around 150 acres west of Buda.
As of 9 a.m. on Wednesday, no structures were impacted, all evacuations were lifted and the fire was 45% contained, according to county officials and the Texas Forestry Service.
Officially named the Onion Creek Fire, it was first reported to authorities around 3 p.m. on March 4.
The national weather service issued an Extreme Fire Weather warning earlier in the day because of the strong winds and low humidity associated with a cold front that blew through the area.
“Today, it was the perfect condition for a fire to start,”Andy Womble, Kyle Fire Public Informa- tion Officer, said. “I know that here in the county, all across the county, all the departments were staffing extra resources because of the weather that was going to be happening today, with the wind conditions as well as the rain that just occurred. It was the perfect storm for this kind of fire. So we were prepared for something like this. We were expecting something like this, something to flare up.”
Wind gusts of nearly 50 miles per hour helped aid the speed of the fire.
“That [wind] was pretty brutal today, so that’s what kind of caused the whole thing with it moving,” Womble said.
The fire started on a property owned by the city of Austin near the Ruby Ranch subdivision in the 4400 block of RM150. Evacuations were ordered for nearby homes and a shelter was opened at the Southern Hills Church of Christ. As of 7:30 p.m. officials said that the “forward motion” of the fire had stopped and evacuations were lifted.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Womble said that the city does control burns on the property as part of their maintenance though she did not say whether or not a control burn was actually occurring at the time the fire started.
