Canyon Lake remains under a ‘Red Flag Warning’ until 5 p.m. but elevated- to near-critical fire conditions will continue through Saturday.
Update: The NWS extended the red flag warning through 7 p.m. Tuesday but at 6:55 p.m. revised that to 7 p.m. today.
“…Winds are less than 15 mph with relative humidity ranging from nine to 27%. With critical fire values below the criteria, the Red Flag Warning will expire at 7 p.m.”
The U.S. National Weather Service Austin-San Antonio said anyone living along the I-35 corridor, in the Hill Country, or on the Edwards Plateau should take steps to avoid causing outdoor fires that could quickly spread with the breezy conditions.
A red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now or will shortly. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior.
Today’s warning includes Llano, Real, Kerr, Bandera, Gillespie, Kendall, Blanco, Hays, Uvalde, Comal, Medina, Bexar, Guadalupe and Caldwell counties.
The public is asked to discard cigarettes properly, keep vehicles off of dry grass, avoid activities with open flames or sparks, avoid power equipment that creates sparks, obey burn bans (Comal County is not under a burn ban currently), evacuate if fire/smoke is headed in their direction, and evacuate if ordered to do so by local officials.
“With dry weather in place, drought conditions are expanding and breezy weather throughout the week there is an increase in fire danger, area-wide, through the weekend, especially west of I-35,” the NWS said in its advisory.
Comal County Fire Marshal Kory Klabunde asked residents and visitors to immediately extinguish any fires that are burning right now.
“Fires can get out of control very quickly in these types of situations,” he said.
One did yesterday.
Firefighters from around the New Braunfels area successfully extinguished a fast-moving grass fire that threatened homes in the 4400 block of Highway 46 West in New Braunfels.
It took firefighters and experts from the Texas Forest Service, Texas Division of Emergency Management, New Braunfels, Canyon Lake, Cibolo, Bulverde/Spring Branch, Bracken, Schertz and San Marcos to bring the fire under control.
High winds and heavy brush in the area slowed progress over the course of the day.
