Wildfires throughout the state are getting a bit of help from emergency responders from the Brownwood area.

According to officials at the Brownwood Fire Department, 2 fire fighters, Kyle Whitley & Evan Owen, are at the fires at Possum Kingdom and 3 men who are on the All Hazards Incident Management Team (AHIMT) went to Cass County to help with the large grass fire in that area.  AHIMT members include Fire Chief Del Albright, Captain Robert Myers, and Lieutenant James LeMond of the Brownwood Fire Department.   A fresh group of fire fighters are planning to be dispatched to Bastrop later this week, officials at the Brownwood Fire Department reported.

Guardian EMS supervisors Ross Bradley and Jimmy Trowbridge are also in Bastrop with two of their local crew members assisting Bastrop county with their emergency services.  One of the crewmembers has been there since Sunday night.  According to Trowbridge, “Guardian is a statewide service which has lots of resources that can be pulled into a disaster situation like this.”

Guardian is headquartered out of Columbus, Texas and has sent 9 units from across the state to the Bastrop area to serve as extra help during this firestorm.

“These guys are chomping at the bit and doing a great job.  We haven’t had any delay in response for medical calls,” stated Trowbridge.  “With the extra help, emergency workers are able to keep up the quality of care and response time with the added resources.”

According to the Texas Forest Service’s morning report, the Bastrop County fire is 30,000 acres in size with no containment.  Heavy airtankers and single-engine airtankers assisted on this fire that started in the Lost Pines area just northeast of Bastrop.  The fire continues to move rapidly to the south, with some eastward movement.  Numerous subdivisions have been evacuated.  Reports indicate nearly 600 homes have been destroyed.

In the past seven days Texas Forest Service has responded to 181 fires for 118,413 acres