MIDLAND, Texas — When the wind starts whipping hard outside, fire departments like the West Odessa Volunteer Fire Department prepare themselves from potential fires that could happen near or around your homes.
"With these strong high winds and the drier conditions right now you can have small things [like] electrical hazards that cause embers that end up setting the brush around on fire. With the wind it just carries the fire fast it spreads across a large area quickly," said Austin Harden, West Odessa Volunteer Fire Department chief.
Which is why the volunteer fire department prepares themselves to step in and respond quickly.
"We monitor the weather in the area and surrounding area on multiple different apps and sources and whenever that comes into effect," Chief Harden said. "We typically try to have 3-4 members on standby in the immediate vicinity of the fire station or at the fire department to quickly respond to incidents to get them contained fast, extinguished fast and prevent any type of large scale wild land type fires."
As for how do you protect your home from being at risk, Chief Harden said to watch for the clutter in and around your home.
"If your home has a lot of brush or trash around [your home], it’s not picked up or cleaned up, you run the potential of a grass fire moving in and then your home potentially catching on fire as well due to the wild land type fire," Chief Harden said. "Be mindful about the inside of your home. Your wall sockets of course don’t have plugged in electrical lines running across the ground outside, be mindful of that. If you think you smell smoke or burning in your home you see an electrical line fall, don’t hesitate to call 911."