Residents in Carbon had to evacuate their homes as the wildfire approached their communities. Candace Sweat reports.
Fire crews in West Texas hope to make progress Saturday against a massive complex of wildfires that have killed one person and burned at least 50 homes, officials said.
Strengthened by drought conditions, the fires merged to form what officials call a “complex” that was burning near Eastland, about 100 miles west of Fort Worth. Hundreds of homes were evacuated in smaller communities.
Winds were expected to diminish on Saturday, raising hopes for the attack on the flames, said Angel Lopez, a spokesman for the task force attacking the wildfire complex near Eastland.
However, gusty winds were expected to return Sunday, again raising the wildfire threat to critical levels in western and central Texas, he said
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At a news conference in Eastland, Gov. Greg Abbott said late Friday that at least 50 homes had been destroyed by flames with more possibly to be found. He declared a disaster in the 11 counties hardest hit by wildfires. The Texas A&M Forest Services warned that fires could also affect parts of Oklahoma and Kansas, and Nebraska warned of an extreme fire risk.
The Eastland County Sheriff's Office released more details on the death of Deputy Sgt. Barbara Fenley. In a statement, the office said she was going door to door, getting residents to evacuate their homes Thursday and it was "last heard that she was going to check on an elderly individual."
"With the extreme deteriorating conditions and low visibility from smoke, Sgt. Fenley ran off the roadway and was engulfed in the fire," the sheriff's statement said.
No other casualties have been reported.
As of Friday afternoon, the fires had burned about 70.9 square miles, according to Texas A&M Forest Service. It was only 4% contained and fires were burning in thick brush and grass fields.
About 18,000 people live in Eastland County. About 475 homes were evacuated in the town of Gorman, but officials don’t yet know how many structures may have burned, said Matthew Ford, spokesman for Texas A&M Forest Service.
“Until we get more boots on the ground, we don’t have an estimate” of the numbers, Ford said Friday morning. “Our top priority is life, safety and protection of structures.”
As many as 40 buildings burned, many of them houses, in the small town of Carbon. One of the homes destroyed belongs to Ben and Ronda Trent, which was reduced to smoldering ash surrounded by a concrete foundation.
"From the time that [our daughter] sent me the first text saying she saw smoke to when they were evacuated was like 10 to 15 minutes," Ronda Trent said, describing how quickly the situation turned from bad to worse. "If we had any inkling that something like that would have happened one of us would've stayed."
The Trents said their two teenagers escaped the house before high winds carried the flames up to the building, but that at least one of the family pets did not escape because of how quickly the fire was approaching.
An evacuation order remained in effect Friday for Carbon, as well as the nearby towns of Lake Leon and Gorman.
"We are OK. We will pick up and go from here," said Ben Trent as he stood beside his still-smoldering home. "We have good friends, good family. We have faith in God who has never let us down before, and has seen us through difficulties before." And there is a beautiful sunrise coming up today."
Raena St. Peter knew there were just moments to get to her house. The fire was raging and throughout the county, the town was being evacuated, and she had to get to the family dog. She got the dog out with just seconds to think about what to do next.
"I went in the house and just kind of held my hands up like what do I do, what do I grab, where do I start? And I just grabbed my phone charger, grabbed the dog and I left," St. Peter said.
She took one last look out of the rear-view mirror and knew life wouldn’t be the same.
"We got a phone call from our neighbor who was trying to fight for his house, I’m not even sure what time, but he said we had lost our home," said St. Peter
Other smaller fires were burning throughout other areas of Texas, and Thursday’s low humidity and high winds created an ideal scenario for the blazes to quickly grow out of control. Texas A&M Forest Service had warned of a wildfire outbreak this week because of the forecast.
A Baptist church in downtown Ranger, Texas, about 85 miles west of Fort Worth, was destroyed Thursday when flames engulfed the 103-year-old building. A nursing home in Rising Star was evacuated and residents were taken to a community center, Eastland County Today reported.
The National Weather Service in Forth Worth warned Friday that much of western and central Texas faces an elevated fire risk due to gusty winds and drought conditions. The weather service urged residents to check for local burn bans and use caution with anything that could start a grass fire.
“We had a fairly dry summer last year and that continued into the fall and winter,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Madison Gordon. With winter passing, “we now have a lot of fuel available in fields.”
The fires caused hazy conditions hundreds of miles away, with the Houston Fire Department and the city’s Office of Emergency Management on Friday morning sending out automated phone messages alerting area residents to smoke and ash.
The forest service warned that the “rare, high impact wildfire phenomenon” could also affect parts of Oklahoma and Kansas. Nebraska’s forest service said most of the state would spend the weekend under extreme fire risk because of drought conditions.
The East Parker County Chamber Foundation has set up a link to accept donations for fire recovery efforts in Eastland County.
Continuing Coverage: Eastland Complex Wildfires
NBC 5's Ben Russell and Candace Sweat contributed to this report.
