Firefighters Battle Wind Threat

(CBS/AP)  Firefighters faced a threat of windier, warmer weather Tuesday as they battled fast-moving blazes that have virtually destroyed some small towns and charred hundreds of thousands of acres of drought-stricken Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

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.

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