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Crews fighting 650-acre brush fire in Llano County

By FOX 7 Austin Digital Team and Tan Radford
Published  July 13, 2023 4:23pm CDT
Llano County
FOX 7 Austin

Moore Peak Fire: Crews fighting large brush fire in Llano County

Nearly a dozen firefighting agencies are battling a brush fire in Llano County.

LLANO COUNTY, Texas - Firefighters are working to contain a large brush fire in Llano County.

The Moore Peak Fire sparked Thursday, July 13 near Highway 71 and County Road 307, just west of Kingsland. Highway 71 and County Road 307 are currently shut down, officials said.

So far, as of 5:10 p.m. on July 14, the fire has burned at least 650 acres and is 70 percent contained.

"We have 3 small single engines that are scooping water out of Lake Buchanan to drop on the fire, we also have a large helicopter that has been dropping water on the fire and a large air tanker in route from New Mexico to drop fire retardant on this fire," said Llano County resident Terry Mikulenka.

The Texas A&M Forest Service warned the triple-digit heat would dry and wilt grasses across the state this week.

"It is getting to be this time of the year. This excessive heat, this drought, is really making our fuels incredibly dry, so in these flashy environments like this, grass lands, it can be harder to contain a fire especially if the wind is high enough," said Walter Flocke, with the Texas A&M Forest Service.

As of now, no evacuations have been called, and no injures have been reported.

"I don’t see that there is any danger to the community of Kingsland or anything like that. I’ve got full confidence in the guys that are out there on the frontline," said Mikulenka.

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Photo courtesy: Incident Information - Texas A&M Forest Service

Gov. Abbott announced on Friday that he has directed the Texas Division of emergency Management to deploy additional firefighting resources overnight to support local officials responding to the fires.

RELATED: Moore Peak Fire: Gov. Abbott deploys wildfire resources to biggest fire burning in Texas

At the governor's direction, TDEM has deployed:

  • Texas A&M Forest Service: Personnel; two air attack platforms; two Type 1 helicopters; three single engine airtankers; one large airtanker; heavy equipment including bulldozers; two Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System strike teams comprised of over 30 firefighters and 10 fire engines
  • Texas Department of State Health Services (Texas Emergency Medical Task Force): Wildland Fire Support Packages including paramedics and ambulances
  • Texas Division of Emergency Management: Emergency response personnel to support local requests for assistance.

Texans can visit TexasReady.gov and tfsweb.tamu.edu for wildfire tips and safety information.

This is a developing story, refresh for the latest updates