Federal help on the way in Texas' fight against San Jacinto wildfire

HOUSTON — Federal help is on the way as first responders continue to fight the Pauline Road Fire from the air and the ground in San Jacinto County.

The fire, which burned more than 2,400 acres as of Thursday afternoon, led to hundreds of evacuations in both San Jacinto County and Montgomery County. It’s burning between Cleveland and Conroe. Those evacuations have since been lifted.

In a release sent out on Thursday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had approved the state’s request for a Fire Management Assistance Grant to help cover the costs in battling the fire.

The approval makes Texas eligible for 75% reimbursement from the federal government for costs associated with fighting the Pauline Road Fire. It also helps manage, mitigate and control wildfires threatening public and private land.

Here’s a list of the state agencies that were deployed during the fire. 

• Texas A&M Forest Service (Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System)
• Texas Division of Emergency Management
• Texas National Guard
• Texas Department of State Health Services (Texas Emergency Medical Task Force)
• Texas Department of Public Safety
• Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
• Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (Texas A&M Task Force 1 and Texas Task Force 2)
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
• Texas Animal Health Commission
• Texas Department of Agriculture 
• Texas Department of Transportation 
• Public Utility Commission of Texas 
• Railroad Commission of Texas 
• Texas Commission on Environmental Quality 
• Texas Health and Human Services Commission 
• Texas Department of Information Resources 

You can check state resources for wildfires at Disaster.Texas.Gov and if you have damage to report, you can do it through the state’s iStat tool.