Burnet tire fire contained, but still live
The dark, black smoke from a fire at a Burnet tire disposal facility was visible for miles in every direction. This photo was taken from rural Burnet County, far from city limits. Photo courtesy of Roger Harrell
Dozens of firefighters, first responders, and public servants from agencies across the Highland Lakes and beyond are stamping out the remnants of a massive fire that engulfed a tire disposal facility in Burnet on Monday, June 30. Firefighters are still digging into the tire piles and rooting out the fire, which could take days to complete.
The blaze at Reliable Tire Disposal, 3345 Texas 29 East in Burnet, was still burning on Tuesday afternoon but considered contained. Thru-traffic can traverse Texas 29 near the fire, but an eastbound and westbound lane were closed as of Tuesday afternoon. An eastbound lane may remain closed for up to three days as firefighters continue their battle.
The fire began at 4 p.m. Monday and raged through the night, sending black smoke into the sky that was visible from as far away as Lampasas. Reliable Tire Disposal was destroyed in the blaze, and its enormous stock of tires were still emitting plumes of noxious smoke on Tuesday.
Burnet Fire Marshal Johnny Caraway said a cause has not been determined but an investigation is underway.
“We don’t have a cause yet, that is going to take a while,” he told DailyTrib.com. “I don’t know that we’ll ever know the cause because everything is so burnt. There was a lot of confusion (when the fire started).”
According to the Burnet County Sheriff’s Office, the fire could have been sparked by malfunctioning machinery.
“What we’ve been told is that it was a malfunction of one of the machines, but it is still being investigated,” Sheriff Calvin Boyd said during a media conference Tuesday. “It does just look like an accident at this point, but we investigate every fire like it’s arson.”
Caraway said Reliable Tire Disposal was open when the fire started. Staff reportedly smelled burning rubber and saw smoke, but by the time they jumped into action, the blaze was already out of control.
About 19 agencies responded to the fire, with Burnet Fire Rescue serving as the incident command. Caraway estimated about 75-100 firefighters were on the scene at the height of operations, but hundreds of first responders and personnel aided in the fight.
Helicopters made water drops to help control the dark inferno and Texas 29 was temporarily shut down due to the risk of smoke blinding drivers or the fire jumping the highway.
The fire rose an estimated 60 feet and consumed the tire disposal facility, making it difficult for first responders.
“When it’s tires, the heat is indescribable. You can’t get anywhere close to it,” said Burnet Fire Chief Mark Ingram.
Ingram and Sheriff Boyd gave a lot of credit to Burnet Streets Department staff, who used tractors to cut a perimeter around the fire, preventing it from spreading to more tires and escaping the boundaries of the Reliable Tire Disposal property.
“(Streets Department workers) cut off the backside with tractors and pushed those tires back,” Boyd said. “Had they not done that, those tires would have caught fire also and it would have been much, much worse.”
It’s astonishing to me that residents and businesses in that area were annexed to Burnet City, and are taxed by Burnet City, but have no fire hydrants.
My neighbor owned property across the street a bit. He complained to me that Burnet annexed his property, so he had to pay Burnet City taxes, but received no water, sewer, or …. fire hydrants. Well, he sold out in 2021 at the peak.
I heard estimates at my own fire dept that nearly 1 million gallons of water were transported daily – by truck – to fight this fire. Because there are no hydrants.
Why is no Burnet City fire hydrant present? Easy water would have made this fire, although difficult, easier to control and faster. Now we have to deal with the toxic runoff from a 4-day tire fire. A hydrant would have let us firemen knock it down quicker.
Thanks to those brave Burnet City road crew who pulled away unburned tires so they did not join the inferno. Burning tires generate their own oxygen and shrug off water, making them hard to extinguish.
This is my own personal opinion and does not reflect that of my fire dept in any way.