Fire crews in Bastrop County are busy tackling multiple fires in Paige and Smithville.
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The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management was asking for help from Travis County as fires burned throughout the county Tuesday.
Bastrop County officials have asked for aerial support from STAR Flight and also for airplane assistance from Fredericksburg.
As rush hour approached, the fires backed up traffic on Texas 71, while a cloud of dark gray and black smoke was large enough to show up on National Weather Service radar and was visible from at least 25 miles away.
Texas A&M Forest Services spokeswoman Kari Hines says the fire that started midday Tuesday was burning on ranchland outside of town and was about 10 percent contained.
Officials are reporting vehicles on fire and one abandoned structure on fire at the Union Chapel Road fire.
A third fire broke out near Cedar Creek, but it was contained within an hour. The forest service tells KVUE’s Michael Perchick the fire involved hay bales and that no injuries were reported.
But even as authorities sent firefighters and machinery to battle the fire, they emphasized that a repeat of the widespread devastation visited on Bastrop in 2011 was unlikely. That fire was contained by 3 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office.
The fires were not impacting any schools, according to the Bastrop County Independent School District, and all schools will let out on time and all bus routes will run as normal. It caused Buescher State Park to be evacuated Tuesday afternoon.
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They said the research center had been evacuated voluntarily as a precaution as the fire spread to nearby areas.
