Firefighters gain ground on biggest wildfire in Texas

Firefighters were gaining ground Wednesday for the first time in their days-long battle against a large and deadly wildfire southeast of Austin, Texas, officials said.

The 33,000-acre Bastrop County Complex fire, which has forced the evacuation of about 5,000 people in the rural community, was about 30 percent contained as of Wednesday morning, said April Saginor, public information officer for the Texas Forest Service.

"Even though the fuels are critically dry, the grass is dry and the relative humidity is still pretty low, they were able to take advantage of lower winds," Saginor said.

The fire, one of nearly 200 that have broken out across Texas in the past week, has killed two people and claimed 575 homes, the most houses ever destroyed by a single fire in Texas history.

Firefighters who have fought the blaze since Sunday were helped overnight by decreased winds and cooler temperatures, conditions expected to continue on Wednesday, officials said.

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The U.S. Forest Service has sent a team to the area to help coordinate the efforts, which include nearly 400 firefighters.

So far, four people have died in wildfires in the state since Labor Day weekend, including a mother and infant daughter who were killed in northeast Texas on Sunday.

24 miles long, 20 miles wide
Wildfires sweeping across drought-stricken state have destroyed a total of more than 1,000 homes in the last several days, including those in Bastrop.

The Bastrop fire, the largest current blaze, stretches 24 miles long and 20 miles wide at its widest point.

Video: Gov. Rick Perry: Wildfires have been ?devastating? (on this page)

Texas Task Force 1, an elite search team that was sent to New York following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, will be assisting in Bastrop.

The team has dogs that can help look for people trapped in debris, Chief Bob McKee told The Associated Press.

"We also have human remains canines that would scent on deceased persons or animals," McKee said.

Slideshow: Wildfires scorch Texas (on this page)

More than 3.6 million acres in Texas have been scorched by wildfires since November, fed by a drought that has caused more than $5 billion in damage to the state's agricultural industry and that shows no sign of easing.

About 1,200 firefighters battled the blazes, including crews from as far away as California and Oregon.

Five heavy tanker planes, some from the federal government, and three aircraft capable of scooping 1,500 gallons of lake water at a time also helped.

The disaster is blamed largely on Texas' yearlong drought, one of the most severe dry spells the state has ever seen.

Interactive: Texas drought (on this page)

At least 11 other fires exceeded 1,000 acres Tuesday, including a 7,000-acre blaze that has destroyed at least 60 homes and threatened hundreds more about 40 miles northwest of Houston.

An 8,000-acre fire has destroyed at least six homes in Caldwell County, next to Bastrop County. In far northeast Texas' Cass County, a 7,000-acre fire burned in heavy timberland.

Teens sought over arson
Meanwhile, police were hunting four teenagers after a wildfire caused $1.4 million in damage in an Austin suburb, officials said.

The blaze destroyed nearly a dozen homes and caused the evacuations of 500 people in Leander, according to residents and media reports. Investigators were treating the wildfire as arson.

Authorities did not say why the teens were suspected.

Dawn Camp, 33, a fire evacuee from Leander near the Austin city limits, hadn't heard the phone ring and didn't know it was time to flee her home until she smelled smoke and walked out the front door to see her neighbor's home burning.

"Fire was raining down on my yard," she said.

She grabbed her children, put them in the car, and started down the road. A block later, she jumped out and gave the keys to her 18-year-old daughter, who spirited her younger siblings, ages 8 and 10, to their great-grandmother's house.

Camp then walked home to coax her cats, Bugbite and Moonshine, out of the house. But police were in her yard.

"They wouldn't let me back in," she said, standing outside a shelter at Rouse High School in Leander. Walking along a main street through the quiet subdivision, Camp said the smoke was so thick she couldn't see or breathe.

A passerby picked her up, and she rejoined her family. Later, a relieved Camp reported that she was able to see her house ? and both the home and the cats were fine.

"I saw some houses that were burned, but our little half of the street was fine," Camp said. The cats "were thirsty, but they were wonderful."

The wildfire in Leander had been extinguished by Tuesday afternoon.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44420224/ns/weather/

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