Pflugerville Fire Department - Remembering The 2011 Labor Day Fires

On September 4, 2011, a red flag warning had been issued for central Texas due to a dry front moving through the area from the north. Wind speeds were sustained at 25 - 30 miles per hour with wind gusts ranging well above 40 miles per hour. The relative humidity was below 20 percent and the temperatures were climbing through the high 90s by early morning. This was on top of a particularly bad drought and 90 consecutive days of 100 degree temperatures. In addition to the well known Bastrop fire, three separate wildland urban interface fires broke out in Pflugerville that day as well.
The first fire came in at 11:00 AM. District firefighters responded to the Pfluger Street fire and at 12:10 PM they were dispatched to the Hodde Lane fire. At 3:06 PM, ESD 2 was dispatched for a third fire named the Pigeon Forge fire (a major incident, or incident complex, was declared). Over 300 homes were threatened, three caught fire, and the fires took over four days to completely extinguish. Over 70 fire units operated on these fires, a dozer crew from Bastrop, three Starflight helicopters, and firefighters from as far as Mineral Wells assisted.
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