Firefighters Battle Wind Threat
Poor Weather Conditions Hinder Fight Against Fast-Moving Blazes
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Play CBS Video Video Wild Weather Around The U.S. From wildfires to twisters to heavy snow, many states are experiencing severe conditions that are causing major structural damage and heartache.
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Video Devastating Wildfires Lee Cowan reports on the grass fires in Texas and Oklahoma that have left communities in ruin and many people without homes.
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Video Wildfire 'Perfect Storm' Grass fires continue to burn in the Southwest, destroying dozens of homes and threatening many more. Beleaguered firefighters are overwhelmed. CBS News' Lee Cowan reports.
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Darrell McCoy walks through the remains of his home in Ringgold, Texas, Monday, Jan. 2, 2006, a day after a wildfire swept through the town. (CBS)
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Cameron Batson, 10, looks over his grandparents burned-out house near NE 63rd and Sooner Road in Oklahoma City on Monday, Jan. 2, 2006. (AP)
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Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry, right, Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin, center, and Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, left, speak at a news conference near the burned home of Debra and Howard Lusk's at 6200 College Ave in Oklahoma City on Monday, Jan. 2, 2006. (AP)
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Leo Cramer, 11, photographs the front of the old grocery store in Ringgold, Texas, Monday, Jan. 2, 2006, a day after a wildfire swept through the town. (AP)
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An oil well pump is silhouetted against a grass fire in Guthrie, Okla., Sunday, Jan. 1, 2006. (AP)
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Photo Essay Wildfires Flare High wind, drought drive wildfires across Oklahoma, Texas and NewMexico
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News Tools Disaster Links Looking for disaster-related information on the Web? Go to the CBS News Disaster Links web site put together by CBS News Producer and Technologist "Digital Dan" Dubno.
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Interactive Floods & Droughts Discover the destructiveness of floods and droughts, see this year's predictions and get tips on what to do.
Since Dec. 27, flames racing across grassland and farmland have destroyed more than 250 buildings. Four deaths were reported last week in Texas and Oklahoma.
On Monday, authorities went house to house in a search for victims in burned-out Texas towns including Ringgold. One of the weekend blazes destroyed most of a ranch-and-cattle town of some 100 people near the Oklahoma line, burning about 50 homes and 40,000 acres as wind swept the fire 13 miles from Ringgold to Nocona, reports CBS Radio News reporter Mark Johnson.
Coylee Grimsley and her two sons watched their home burn just hours after she had cooked a large meal to celebrate the new year.
"We was enjoying it, and here come the flames," she said. "If you'd been there, you'd have thought the world was going to end."
One of two major fires near San Angelo in West Texas, a 40,000-acre blaze in Sterling County, had been contained, authorities said. Fifteen structures were destroyed and two people suffered minor injuries.
The other major blaze in the San Angelo area, a 50,000-acre fire with a 50-mile perimeter in nearby Irion and Reagan counties, was about 70 percent contained Tuesday. No damages or evacuations were reported.
A 35,000-acre blaze near the small towns of Carbon, Gorman and Desdemona had been beaten back by late Monday to just a few hundred acres of mostly open ranch land, said Mark Pipkin of the Eastland Fire Department.
All major wildfires in Oklahoma were declared under control late Monday thanks to calmer wind and higher humidity, but crews were preparing for the worst. Highs up to 80 were possible Tuesday with only 10 to 20 percent humidity and wind up to 25 mph, the National Weather Service said.
"We will make sure that all the hot spots and smoldering areas are put out for the simple fact that if the wind picks up, we'll be in trouble," said Dan Ware, spokesman for New Mexico's state Forestry Division.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
