airport

By Lew K. Cohn
Managing Editor •

Llano and Burnet County officials breathed a collective sigh of relief the afternoon of Aug. 26 after a weekend brush fire which threatened nearly 150 Horseshoe Bay residences was declared fully contained.

“It was a tremendous effort starting with the initial response from both Horseshoe Bay and Marble Falls fire departments and we could not have contained this fire without the help of all of our mutual aid partners who assisted,” said Horseshoe Bay fire chief Joe Morris.

“This fire burned right up to airport hangars full of multimillion dollar jets and burned right up to homes in several areas. It is amazing how much was done within a short amount of time and we were fortunate that no homes and no lives were lost.”

From Staff Reports •
Surrounding agencies are battling a brush fire which ignited mid afternoon Aug. 25 in an area adjacent to Horseshoe Bay airport.
The bulk of the blaze is on the north side of Texas 71 and moving northwest towards the airport.
"(The) fire started from a spark from a land clearing machine," Burnet County Judge James Oakley stated. "This is just how dry the fuel is and then with just a little wind, things can easily get out of control."
Fire officials have requested evacuations of residents in the path of the wildfire as a precautionary measure.
Burnet County Sheriff's Office dispatchers are receiving reports of billowing smoke seen for several miles and falling ash as far north as Hoover Valley.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

The Granite Shoals City Council on Tuesday, May 23, resolved to name the city airport after its longtime manager, the late Robert T. “Bob” Sylvester.

Now to be known as Granite Shoals Bob Sylvester Airpark, the municipal field, bounded by Forest Hills, Mystic, Green Forest and Sherwood Forest drives, is to be formally changed to a Federal Aeronautics Administration (FAA) public designation.

“That will allow pilots to land without city manager permission,” said City Manager Ken Nickel. “Pilots will be able to turn on the lights for night landings, as well as using it in the daytime.”

Glynis Crawford Smith/The Highlander

An ambitious plan for streets, an old debate over the airport and a pilot program to thin urban deer all were tackled by the Granite Shoals City Council Tuesday, Feb. 9.

See the story in the Friday, Feb. 12, edition of The Highlander.