The locally based helicopters will be staged at Abilene Regional Airport. Firefighting personnel already are at work, battling blazes in Stephens County near Lake Possum Kingdom and in Palo Duro Canyon in the Panhandle. Prospects were good for containment, he said. Every fire has a potential to go big. The reason you haven't seen this before is because we're probably in a 100-year drought.
Financing comes from the state and federal governments.
Davis said 75 percent is provided by a grant from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Administration with 25 percent paid by the state of Texas. In most cases, local volunteers will be the first ones on the scene, he said. Focusing on the July Fourth weekend, Davis urged caution. Davis, a resident of Lufkin in southeast Texas, observed that, under normal conditions, East Texas and West Texas have different fire seasons. But not this year.