Throughout grass fire season, the Hockley County area has seen minimal acreage burn, however, the threat remains as large areas of land are continuing to dry out and cause increased fuel loading.
While the area has seen a handful of colder days, the lack of moisture combined with low humidity and high winds continues to be a danger.
The Levelland Fire Department and the Levelland Hockley County Emergency Management Coordinator Cole Kirkland were busy Monday afternoon as they received a report of a large grass fire near FM 597 and Cheyenne Road.
With the wind blowing from the west the fire avoided the Yellow House Canyon which would have caused serious problems.
A crew with the LFD along with Fire Chief Jay McKay worked around the fire, however, with large patches of dried fuel did not create the ideal situation. Fortunately, the fire crew and Texas Forest Service were able to keep the flames from jumping across Cheyenne Road into additional dried fields.
Much of the West Texas area is very high to high fire danger until Thursday. From there the danger level will drop to moderate or low.
Community members are encouraged to be mindful of controlled burns as they can get out of control. While those have not been an issue, the LFD is reminding that burning is not allowed within the City of Levelland and controlled burns should be called into the LFD before proceeding.
In addition to burning, individuals are also encouraged to be mindful of the weather and the conditions that could pose a serious threat to starting a grass fire.
Grass fires could also be prone to starting to due to oilfield or farming equipment malfunctioning along with power lines.
Typically, those examples are linked to more of the grass fires that occur in the area according to Kirkland.
In dry conditions with a lack of humidity, small sparks are all that is needed to ignite a grass fire and depending on wind speed and direction, the situation can escalate quickly.