There is ‘slow progress’ being made on the current largest wildfire in Texas, officials said Saturday.
Robert Duggan is with the Southern Area Incident Management Blue Team, which is one of the agencies responding to the Chalk Mountain Fire. The blaze, which began Monday about five miles southwest of Glen Rose in Somervell County, has burned more than 6,700 acres. At least 16 homes have been destroyed.
“Long term, we’re making progress, but it’s a slow progress because of the heat and dry conditions out there. Each day we’re making a little more progress,” Duggan said. “We’re getting a little further in there with blackening it. We’re trying to push the fire into the middle there. Once we get more in there and make a new decision every day, where we’re at, staffing levels, and everything like that.”
As of Saturday, the containment level remained at 10%. However, state emergency management leaders said crews have been able to take advantage of the cooler overnight temperatures and make significant progress toward securing the fire perimeter.
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At a press conference Saturday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said no lives have been lost due to the fire. Two injuries have been reported, and they are both considered minor.
Chief Nim Kidd with the Texas Division of Emergency Management said crews will continue to monitor weather conditions in the coming days.
“Any given moment, we need to understand that weather conditions could deteriorate or we could have a pop-out fire or another fire start,” Chief Kidd said. “This is not the only fire in town, not the only fire in Texas right now. Any new fires would only draw on existing resources. Everyone needs to be fire-wise right now.”
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Gary Witherspoon of Dallas owns property in Somervell County. It has been largely spared, Witherspoon said.
“Some of the wooded areas were destroyed and burned. Lot of grass destruction. We have some livestock on the place, had to move them out. But not near as bad as some,” he said. “It was just devastating to see the destruction the fire caused. In 2019, our house in Dallas was destroyed due to the tornado. The destruction in some of these areas looked similar to the tornado.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation as of Saturday.
