Preventing wildfires from destroying your home - KFDA - NewsChannel 10 / Amarillo News, Weather, Sports

Preventing wildfires from destroying your home

Amarillo, TX - Dozens of families are without homes after massive wildfires in the Panhandle the last several months.

To prevent future devastation many residents gathered today to learn how to better protect themselves.

Sixty-seven thousand acres of land and more than 70 homes have been destroyed in wild fires just in the Amarillo area since February, to help reduce those numbers the Texas Forest Service held a workshop to teach victims how to restore their land and help others from facing a similar future.

The Texas Forest Service says some of the things you can do to avoid losing your home in a wildfire is to have a thirty foot defensive area around your house by removing dead or dying vegetation and have trees and plants spread apart.

"We're just trying to spread the message, we've got several agencies here helping with effects on trees, effects on grass and effects on their homes and just trying to get the word out and try to help in anyway we can," says Brian Scott a Staff Forester with the service.

The Texas Forest Service will remain in the area until our fire danger decreases.