Lightning storms started many fires in 2011 which traveled up slope and jumped existing fire breaks. With luck and hard work the fire was able to be contained.

There is a need to keep fire from jumping firebreak roads because of the high potential for igniting large areas of dense, dry, or dead cedars.

A plan was outlined for Natural Texas to follow:

While work was in progress, fire suppression personnel changed the prescription to match fuel loads and terrain. Both sides of road/fire break had highly flammable cedars removed. Less flammable hardwoods were left. On the downwind (summer) side of road 20′ to 50’ were cleared of cedars.

On the windward side of road (where fire is coming from) cedars were removed up to 100 feet from road. Other areas had hot spots of mostly dead cedars mulched. Large single trunk (living) trees were left to provide wildlife needs.

We selectively removed highly flammable cedars while leaving less flammable hardwood cools down wildfire. This cooling action