Firefighters and volunteers worked Friday to contain the Eastland Complex wildfire and keep it out of the town of Gorman.
Flames were spreading through dry grass and brush just a few miles outside Gorman after the town of Carbon, about 15 miles away, lost dozens of homes and buildings Thursday night.
Residents in Gorman were told to evacuate Thursday but some stayed to watch their homes.
“I didn't want to just leave, evacuate and come back to the house, just ashes on the ground,” said Gorman resident Tony Ramirez.
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He and several other residents, who are not firefighters, used a pick-up truck and trailer loaded with tanks of water to join the containment effort.
“Last night we stayed close to the house, just in case, but once things started calming down, that's when we got out to cool down some of these hot spots,” Ramirez said.
Big helicopters flew overhead with large buckets of fire retardant to hit spots identified by the Texas A&M Forest Service.
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“It' still an active fire. We still have active fires in the area. So we're asking the public to remain away from those areas,” Forest Service Spokesman Angel Lopez Portillo said.
Efforts were no match for the fire in Carbon.
Resident Kenneth Payne was too emotional to talk about the destruction of his home. He let his son in law Spencer Mullens speak for him.
“He had the sprinklers on for a little bit, and then the electricity went out and that shut his water off, so he couldn’t get water. The pumps weren’t working in his well,” Mullens said.
The house was destroyed but his metal garage and animal sheds were fine. A house across the road was also fine. Payne told his family it happened very fast around 7 p.m. Thursday.
“You see which way the wind is blowing, you need to start preparing yourself, right? Because it will get up on you quick. And that's what happened to him,” Mullens said.
Firefighters from the fire line returned to Gorman through the day to refill trucks with water.
“It’s a lot of rekindling. You put one out and think you’ve got it, come back and that one is relit,” said Lipan Volunteer Firefighter Kye Cox.
He said he was a veteran of the 2011 Possum Kingdom fires and others as well.
“It’s the worst I’ve seen, worse than PK was a couple of years ago,” he said.
Some additional structures between the two towns burned Friday and the Forest Service said the Eastland Complex Fire was only 10% contained.
But the volunteers and firefighters were successful in keeping the fire out of Gorman Friday.
Many evacuees were returning to Gorman and gas company workers who had shut gas service off Thursday as a precaution were turning the gas back on Friday afternoon.
