Texas Wildfire, News

Wildfires sweeping across hundreds of thousands of acres in parched Texas killed a firefighter, forced hundreds of evacuations -- including an entire town -- and destroyed dozens of homes on Friday, officials said.

The fire, which started Sunday afternoon, was mostly contained at 100 acres after two C-130s doused the area with fire retardant.

Strong winds were fueling fires that spanned about 655 square miles, according to the Texas Forest Service

Volunteer firefighter Gregory M. Simmons, 51, died while battling a 3,000-acre blaze Friday afternoon near Eastland, a town about 130 miles west of Dallas, Mayor Mark Pipkin said.

"The fire, it's a bad one," Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesman Rob McCorkle said.

Three large fires burning in Wichita County, about 150 miles northwest of Dallas near the Oklahoma border, had destroyed about 30 homes. Wildfires also prompted officials to evacuate Gorman, a city of about 1,200 residents.

In West Texas, a fire that started by a 10 days ago had grown to about 105,000 acres in Stonewall, King and Knox counties by Friday, while another 149,000-acre fire that began earlier this week continued raging in Kent, Stonewall and Fisher counties.

Fires destroyed 80 homes, many around Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle, the Forest Service said. A 40,000-acre fire licking at the town 80 miles northeast of Lubbock was about 75 percent under control, and Matador reopened to residents on Monday, said John Gonzalez of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Dry conditions in central and southern Texas raised the fire risks there.