The wildfire burning east of Austin, the state capital, is 40 percent contained, according to Steve Pollock, the chief regional fire coordinator with the Texas A&M Forest Service.
Advertisement
“We have been playing defense on this fire for the last four days and today we are in containment mode, which means that we are not going to let that fire score anything else”, Bastrop County Judge Paul Pape during a news conference.
Members of the Robinson Fire Department are collecting feed and bales of hay for livestock affected by the Hidden Pines Fire in the Bastrop County area. Bastrop County will receive aid from firefighters across the state as well as teams from Florida and Georgia, but their arrival time is important, Kidd said. But officials said Friday that the fire that began Tuesday and grew big enough to waft smoke into downtown Austin, a few 40 miles away from the fire, now appears to be getting under control.
About 200 firefighters from across Texas have battled the blaze during daylight, and on Friday, a DC-10 jet tanker flown in from Tennessee dropped almost 12,000 gallons of retardant on the smoldering area. A preliminary investigation has determined a farmer mistakenly started the fire as he dragged a shredder through tall grass, causing an overheated bearing to ignite grass clippings.
Advertisement
The fire has torched much of the same area that was devastated in 2011 by a far more extensive wildfire that was fanned by 50 miles per hour winds, wiping out 1,600 homes and killing two people. The fire has burned more than 4,300 acres, destroying nine homes and threatening hundreds more. Officials said about 50 people stayed in shelters overnight Wednesday, with many others retreating to hotels or the homes of friends.
