An explosive substance typically used for target practice and baby gender reveals was blamed for a brush fire that got out of control in northern Burnet County.
Officials say the fire started at 3:30 p.m. on March 29 and burned about 35 acres. It took several agencies more than four hours to bring the blaze under control.
Officials with the Burnet County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) reported that “the grass fire at a property on RM 2340 that was caused by the assumed usage of tannerite as part of a celebration.”
"The fire occurred in 2-3 ft tall freeze cured, dead grasses.”
Tannerite is a brand of “binary explosive targets" used for fire arms practice and sold in kit form. The kits involve mixing ammonium nitrate and aluminum powders together and, for gender reveals, placing them with colored powder.
Burnet Volunteer Fire Department with assistance from five fire departments in Burnet County, along with Lampasas Volunteer Fire Department, Burnet County Sheriff's Office, and the Burnet County Office of Emergency Management responded and coordinated efforts.
"While fighting this fire, Burnet Volunteer Fire Department responded to a vehicle fire on US 281," officials reported. "That fire resulted from a catalytic converter igniting roadside grass while the vehicle was parked during a traffic stop. Burn for this was minimal as it was extinguished quickly.”
At the time of the events, lack of rain for several weeks resulted in drier fuels, “grasses that are leftover from last summer’s rains and ongoing drought conditions,” County officials counted on “spring rains and storms [to] knock down leftover fuels and promote true green-up across the county.”
Currently, recent rains have eased the severity of conditions and prompted county officials to lift the ban on outdoor burning.
(See related story on Page 2).
