Large grass fire burns Wise County on Wednesday
A massive grass fire burned about 100 acres of land near Boyd in Wise County on Wednesday afternoon.
SKY4 showed a long line of fire burning its way across parched land near County Road 4791 about 4 p.m. Wednesday. Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles.
Officials said it was unclear how the fire started. There did not appear to be any homes or structures in the path of the fire.
About the same time, firefighters in Fort Worth were working to put down a brush fire near Beach and E. 1st Streets. The fire did not threaten any homes or businesses and crews were able to quickly to gain control of the flames.
Staci Flournoy watched helplessly as flames from a grass fire came within feet of destroying her home on Chase Landing Drive in Rendon in southern Tarrant County.
“When they started out over here, it got right up to the walk,” she recalled. “And they came through with the foam and a big gust of wind blew. It re-lit it all, so they came back again."
Fire crews from Briar Oaks, Mansfield, Kennedale and Everyman backed up Rendon.
Cymbre Penwarden's mother-in-law lives nearby. She grabbed a garden hose and started watering the lawn till fire trucks arrived.
"It was moving very quickly,” she said. “They said my front yard was done in 20 seconds."
Several counties in the western part of North Texas were under a red flag warning all day, which meant there was a high risk of fires that could grow quickly and spread.
Fire departments around Denton County called in extra firefighters because the high winds and dry conditions.
Denton County Emergency Management officials said they responded to a handful of fires Wednesday morning and all of those appear to have been man-made, meaning they were started by flicking cigarettes or trash burning and could have been prevented.
"People don't realize how fast how fast a fire like that can move, we're talking 30 to 40 miles an hour at least, especially with wind like this," said Roland Asebedo, Denton County Emergency Services.
The county issued a disaster declaration on Tuesday, enacting a burn ban. But that ban still has to be ratified by county commissioners before police and fire officials can start issuing citations and fines.