Bexar County activates two wildfire strike teams as fire danger forecasts issued over San Antonio

As weather advisories pile up over Bexar County, local emergency preparedness officials on Tuesday announced the activation of two wildfire strike teams to respond to any large fire activity that may occur.

The teams are made up of at least 12 Bexar County Fire Marshal’s Office firefighters across designated districts in western and eastern Bexar County, working overtime to respond to large wildfires and brush fires in unincorporated areas of town. 

Officials from the fire marshal’s office and Office of Emergency Management made the announcement Tuesday at a Bexar County Emergency Services District 7 firehouse, as firefighters from the western wildfire strike team displayed their firetrucks and specialized equipment used to fight local brush and grass fires.

The National Weather Service on Tuesday issued a red flag warning for wind and low relative humidity for the San Antonio and Austin area, in effect until 11 p.m. Wednesday. A burn ban is also in effect, due to elevated fire conditions. 

Red flag warnings indicate when warm temperatures, very low humidities and stronger winds are expected to produce an increased risk of fire danger.

“That makes for extreme fire conditions,” said Kevin Clarkson, fire chief for the Bexar County Emergency Services District 7.  “Fires grow rapidly during these red flag conditions.”

Without the wildfire strike teams, Clarkson said fire crews only put a call in for backup after identifying that the fire is too big. During red flag warnings, the strike teams would be sent out to help prevent fires from growing to an unmanageable size.

“The idea is for them to overwhelm the fire ahead of time, versus slowly having to call for resources to get there,” he said. “It gives the fire time to grow before we get the stop on it.”

Bexar County has long had wildfire strike teams, but only activates them under extreme weather advisories as needed, primarily in the summertime and in the winter, Clarkson said.

The NWS weather advisories come as the Texas A&M Forest Service moved Tuesday to raise the State Wildfire Preparedness Level to a Level 4 due to an increasing number of wildfires across the state.

“Critical fire weather, characterized by increased wind speeds and triple-digit temperatures will align with very dry vegetation to produce an environment with high potential for wildfires that are resistant to firefighters’ suppression efforts and may impact citizens within the identified areas of concern,” said the announcement from the Texas A&M Forest Service.

Each wildfire strike team is made up of five wildland engines with at least two firefighters on it from each designated area’s districts, and a strike team leader vehicle with another two firefighters. The teams can rely on each other if more resources are needed for any one fire.

San Antonio has seen record-breaking heat this summer, and was the subject of national attention last month when it reached a heat index of 117 degrees. 

Although the wildfire strike teams are broken into two areas of town, the teams can respond to most areas across the county. Last week, the team responded to a fire in North Bexar County, where a fire burned through 10 acres and destroyed a house.

Over the past week, state and local firefighters have responded to 119 wildfires that burned 9,012 acres.

“We’re better prepared to keep [the community] safe,” Clarkson said of the strike teams. “If we go to a house fire where you see 10, 15 trucks out front and there’s 50 firemen swarmed all over this house. Now imagine we have a wildfire and we have 10 of those houses on fire. … That’s why coordinating and being responsive on the front end is so important. The goal is to keep it from getting big.”

The strike teams will be on standby until weather conditions improve.