Wildfires Spread, Mandatory Evacuations At Possum Kingdom Lake
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM/KRLD/AP) - A mandatory evacuation order was issued Tuesday afternoon for the Possum Kingdom Lake area west of Highway 16 as wildfires billowed through the area, destroying 149 homes and one church.
Tuesday afternoon, raging fires were confirmed at the Gaines Bend, Cliffs and Sportsman's World subdivisions of Possum Kingdom Lake. All city services in Palo Pinto were evacuated at about 5 p.m., and the entire city was evacuated at about 5:20 p.m. Though wind patterns changed and the fire missed the town, the evacuation alert still stood late into the evening.
Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Debbie Jones said prisoners from the jail were being shipped to surrounding county jails out of reach of the fires. Dispatch personnel for the county moved to Mineral Wells to continue working with the agencies fighting fires, Jones said. She stressed that all municipal and county offices were under evacuation orders.
The shelter at Graford Elementary in Palo Pinto was moved to Mineral Wells Jr. High School, located at 1301 Southeast 14th Avenue in Mineral Wells.
"Remain cautions ... and do not drive into areas where smoke is too thick to see through. You may be driving into a fire," read a Palo Pinto evacuation alert issued at 5:30 p.m.
All roads leading to the Possum Kingdom Lake area were closed Tuesday. The fires were moving so briskly and smoke was so intense that a roadblock was set up at Texas State Highway 337 and Texas State Highway 254 in Graford. Officials say the roads will remain closed until the area is confirmed safe. The latest road closure information can be found on the Texas Department of Transportation's road conditions website, or by calling a hotline at (800) 452-9292.
Hot temperatures and strong winds have bolstered the North Texas wildfires burning out of control around the lake, about 75 miles west of Fort Worth.
Trooper Lonny Haschel, public information officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety, says there's no sign of when firefighters will be able to get the upper hand. "We have no idea. What would be really nice is a weather report that had rain in it!" he said frustrated. "But until then we're just gonna do the best we can, watch the wind, watch the weather and let those firefighters do what they're best at."
Steve Deffibaugh, with the Texas Forest Service, talked with both CBS 11 News and NewsRadio 1080 KRLD Tuesday and says the wind, low humidity and heat are all working against firefighters.
"Just any spark can create a fire and the fire departments are just tasked so heavy right now," Deffibaugh said of the dry conditions and manpower. "We just can't seem to catch a break. The fire started last Friday; we had strong gusty winds up to 60 mph out of the west. Then Sunday they shifted from the south, and now we understand we're gonna have a wind shift that's gonna come out of the northeast which is gonna be a whole new ballgame."
While there are dozens of wildfires burning across the state Deffibaugh says the fires in the Possum Kingdom area have grown specifically. "Right now the Possum Kingdom fire, actually called the PK Complex, is four fires combined into one... and is only 25-percent contained."
The estimated size of the PK fire complex has increased. The Texas Forest Service says as of 11:30 Tuesday morning, it had burned 148,000 acres. Texas Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopters from Austin have been brought in and are dumping buckets of water the blaze.
Incredibly, the Possum kingdom fire is not the biggest fire in the state. Three other fire complexes are larger, including one in far West Texas that has burned nearly 200,000 acres.
Check out our photo gallery of damage from the PK Complex.
One of the driest spells in Texas history has left most of the state in extreme drought, and wildfires in various parts of the state have burned more than 1,000 square miles of land in the past week – an area that combined would be the size of Rhode Island.
Property losses continue to increase but Trooper Lonny Haschel, public information officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety, says the real danger is potential loss of life.
"We are strongly encouraging folks that are in the path of this fire [PK Complex] to evacuate," he said. "We can replace property. We can't replace [the lives] of Texans that are out there. It's all about personal safety."
Firefighters have come from all over the state and the country to try and help get the massive Possum Kingdom blaze under control, but a combination of conditions is making it difficult.
"Because the wind shift it may spin around and they'll have a fire where they just put out, they look back and it's started again," said Haschel. "Those blowing embers are really a huge issue."
Anita Foster, the Chief Communications Officer with the American Red Cross, Dallas Chapter, stopped by 'CBS 11 News This Morning' and talked about the Red Cross effort in the Possum Kingdom area.
"These wildfires are so intense, they're just burning out of control," she said. "Families are displaced from their homes on a very regular basis."
Foster said the Red Cross is committed to helping both emergency workers and residents.
"We're not only in there taking care of those emergency workers, with water and Gatorade and cots and blankets. We're also standing right there with the families saying, 'Hey the minute we can get into the neighborhoods the Red Cross is going to be here for you.' Because they may not have a place to go once we know that they don't have a home left," Foster said.
A $10 donation to the Red Cross can easily be made from any cell phone by texting the word RED CROSS to 90999.
Before leaving CBS 11 Foster had a message for everyone affected by the wildfires. "The Red Cross is here, we're gonna be there, we're not going anywhere. We're gonna be there for the long haul."
The National Weather Service predicted highs Tuesday in the mid-90s for the Dallas/Fort Worth area, with wind gusts of up to 35 mph, but a chance for evening thunderstorms.
State officials are reminding everyone that the majority of the state – 201 of Texas' 254 counties – is under some kind of outdoor burning ban.
LINKS AND FURTHER INFORMATION:
- Interactive map following active wildfires in Texas
- Resources for what to do after experiencing a wildfire
- Wildfire safety tips from the state
- For those who wish to donate to firefighters battling the blazes, donate in Weatherford at City Hall, Weatherford College Student Services Center, South Main Church of Christ, or the Weatherford Walmart.
