A five-acre grass fire that spread near Canyon Lake Tuesday afternoon was just the latest in a string of blazes that have lit up Comal County, which is suffering severe drought conditions.
Since the weekend, there have been at least four structure fires and three large grass fires, Comal County fire officials said.
Tuesday’s fire off Farm to Market 2722 and Reiber Road, just south of Canyon Lake, was sparked by a tractor, Comal County Emergency Services District No. 3 Chief Shawn Wherry said.
Paul Macke, who was mowing the lawn with the tractor around 3 p.m., said it got stuck on a hill and the exhaust sparked the grass around.
“The fire started surrounding me and moving out in all directions,” Macke said. “I started stomping on it and throwing my coat at it, but the wind kept carrying it around. It spread very quickly.”
Smoke from the fire could be seen billowing over hills for miles down FM 2722, and the smell of burning grass filled the area.
ESD No. 3 sent two brush trucks and a tanker and had the fire out in about two hours, Wherry said.
He said it could have been a much more dangerous situation, though.
“That land was surrounded by hills and woods on all sides,” Wherry said. “If it would have spread into those hills, it would have been inaccessible by ground appliances. We could have had a California wild fire on our hands.”
He said through careful actions, fires can be prevented.
“With the weather conditions, every-day life can start a fire,” he said. “People need to be extraordinarily cautious. Have someone watching with a garden hose if you’re mowing the lawn.”
Among the fires was a large residential blaze on Saturday, which took the life of a Korean War veteran and burned down a long-lived house on Gruene Road. According to officials and neighbors on the scene, the fire spread very quickly.
That same night, around 11:40 p.m., officials said a wild land fire ran through about 125 acres of the Stallion Estates subdivision at the Comal and Blanco County line.
On Sunday, a large fire flared up along Farm-to-Market 306 near Post Road, smoldering across 200 acres of grass. Wherry said smoke could be seen from I-410 and Blanco Road in San Antonio.
The cause of the fires has yet to be determined, Comal County Fire Marshal Wayne Ellington said, but drought conditions have played a heavy role.
