Crews Still Battling Palo Pinto County Grass Fire

GRAFORD (CBSDFW.COM) - A massive grass fire continues to burn in Palo Pinto County on Wednesday morning, after hours of emergency crews trying to stop the flames from bringing more devastation to an already hurting area.

The fire started at about 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon in the town of Graford. After just three hours, the fire was so large that firefighters could only battle the blaze by air. Single engine air tankers were flown in to drop water on the flames, along with four Texas Forest Service task forces and 35 volunteer fire departments.

According to the Texas Forest Service, 125 homes have been evacuated, 30 of which are now completely destroyed. The fire has burned 3,500 acres of land – an estimate that has come down from 7,500 acres that were believed to be burning on Tuesday night – but no containment has been reached, and officials are not sure what started the fire.

This same area of Palo Pinto County, located on the south side of Possum Kingdom Lake, saw flames consume more than 150,000 acres of land back in April. Those residents who survived that large fire believed that they were spared. But now, area residents are again evacuating and fearing the worst.

Among the structures which burned were the front office, administrative building, guard post and homes at The Cliffs Resort, just south of the lake. Resort residents were asked to avoid driving through the fire, and instead use boats to escape over Possum Kingdom Lake.

"I don't think I have my head around it yet. It's just unbelievable," said Linda Jackson, who lost her home to the fire after being spared back in April. She has now lost everything that she owned. "I can't believe it."

"Before we knew it, it was coming," added Paul Jackson, Linda's husband. "I'm sick that I didn't get the pictures of our folks and things like that, that we didn't have time to get."

According to meteorologists, the soil around Possum Kingdom Lake is at one percent the normal moisture, causing even more concern as flames spread. When the fire started on Tuesday, the temperature was at 104 degrees, with 14 mph winds gusting up to 23 mph.

The flames died down some as darkness fell over the fire, and the blaze started to spread less rapidly. However, as the sun rises and winds pick up again on Wednesday morning, emergency crews are expecting to see the grass fire start again at full force.