Firefighters battle wildfires across Texas
Firefighters battle wildfires across Texas
26 February 2009
published by www.chron.com
USA — Firefighters on Thursday continued battling wildfires across much of the hot and dry state, including a 1,200-acre West Texas blaze that reignited after being under control for a few days.
People were being evacuated and some ash was falling in parts of Abilene as the fire raced through Taylor County, threatening a dozen buildings, according to the Texas Forest Service.
Firefighters also were battling a 300-acre fire in nearby Shackleford County and a 300-acre blaze along the Llano and San Saba county line northwest of Austin.
A 700-acre fire that started Tuesday in Callahan County near Abilene was about 85 percent contained Thursday, according to the Texas Forest Service.
It destroyed the home of Jon Ann Patton, 83, and nine other buildings in its path. She escaped, but all of her belongings were lost.
“My mom is about the strongest person I know,” Peggy Noice, one of Patton’s eight children, told the Abilene Reporter-News for a story in Thursday editions. “You lose everything; there’s nothing. But she’s got us, and she’s got lots of friends.”
Firefighters finally were able to extinguish a 1,500-acre fire in Kenedy County in South Texas.
A nearly 2,300-acre fire in Jack County northwest of Fort Worth was about 80 percent contained, and a 500-acre fire in Runnels County near Ballinger south of Abilene was 85 percent contained as of Thursday night, Texas Forest Service officials said.
