Lufkin Fire Dept, Texas Forest Service Battling Large Brush Fire

The Lufkin Fire Department along with firefighters from the Texas Forest Service are on the scene of a large fire located to the west of Southwood Drive, near the Hoshall Drive area.  The blaze is estimated to be 9 acres in size. The Texas Forest Service Incident Viewer page has estimated that the fire is 15% contained.

The fire is in a brushy tree line and as of now, no structures are being threatened. The fire was discovered following a report of smoke in the area around 8 a.m.

“Though we don’t know exactly how this fire started, we have had reports of heavy lightning in the area from yesterday evening’s storms,” Pebsworth said. “Again, we ask that this incident be a reminder of the current fire danger. Angelina County and the City of Lufkin remain under a burn ban.”

Over the past couple of weeks, there has been an increase in the number of scattered afternoon and evening storms. Jake Donellan with the Texas Forest Service in Lufkin has indicated that this can be a bit of a 'Catch-22'.  The rainfall from these systems is very welcome in that they provide some relief to the high temperatures and moisture in the parched landscape.  However, many of these storms produce cloud-to-ground lightning, and it is estimated that lightning strikes have been the main cause of wildfires in the East Texas area over the past several weeks. 

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The National Weather Service is forecasting rain chances to reach 50-60% on Wednesday and Thursday. Hopefully, we can get some widespread rainfall without an outbreak of numerous lightning strikes.