Central Texas wildfire destroys nearly 800 homes

By JIM VERTUNO – Associated Press | AP 

BASTROP, Texas (AP) — Firefighting crews started Wednesday to gain control of a wind-stoked blaze that has raged unchecked across parched Central Texas for days, leaving hundreds of charred properties in its wake and causing thousands of people to flee.

As the crisis unfolded, Gov. Rick Perry flew off to a Republican presidential debate in California as authorities commanded operations fighting the disaster.

At least two people have died in the wildfire, which destroyed nearly 800 homes and blackened about 45 square miles (116 square kilometers) in and around the city of Bastrop, outside Austin, the state capital.

The Texas Forest Service said Wednesday that blaze had consumed 785 homes, making it the most catastrophic of the fires that have erupted in the past week across Texas. One of the most devastating wildfire outbreaks in state history has caused four deaths and pulled the state’s firefighting ranks to the limit.

But Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald also sounded an optimistic tone, saying firefighters had a “good night” and that no new structures were lost overnight in the battle to contain the 33,000-acre (13,350-hectare) blaze about 25 miles east of Austin. Containment remained at 30 percent.

The forest service said it responded to a total of 19 new fires Wednesday totaling 1,490 acres (600 hectares) across the state, bringing the count over the past week to more than 170 fires consuming more than 130,000 acres (52,600 hectares).

Texas Task Force 1, an elite search team that was sent to New York following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, will be assisting in Bastrop.

The team has dogs that can help look for people trapped in debris, Chief Bob McKee told The Associated Press. “We also have human remains canines that would scent on deceased persons or animals,” McKee said.

Crews finally got a reprieve Tuesday from winds pushed in by Tropical Storm Lee that whipped the blaze into an inferno over the weekend. Texas Forest Service spokeswoman April Saginor said the lighter winds were assisting firefighters in their efforts.

“Even though the fuels are critically dry, the grass is dry and the relative humidity is still pretty low, they were able to take advantage of lower winds,” Saginor said.

Perry cut short a presidential campaign trip to South Carolina to deal with the crisis, and on Tuesday toured a blackened area near Bastrop.

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