Story at a glance
- Wildfires in Central Texas have forced more people to evacuate.
- A number of wildfires have scorched thousands of acres of land across the state since last week.
- The largest of the fires, the Eastland Complex Fire, has burned more than 54,000 acres.
More Texans have had to evacuate as wildfires burn through central parts of the state.
Residents of the town of Lipin, located about 50 miles west of Fort Worth, were told to evacuate on Sunday to escape what has now been dubbed the Big L Fire, according to The New York Times.
Since Sunday, the wildfire has grown to more than 10,300 acres in size, according to an update from InciWeb. As of Monday, firefighters have been able to contain 50 percent of the Big L Fire, just one of many that have burned through thousands of acres of land in Central Texas since last week.
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Some of the fires began last Thursday and converged to create a “complex” fire around Eastland County, which so far has scorched through more than 54,000 acres of land and destroyed at least 142 buildings, according to an update on InciWeb.
The Eastland Complex fire, which now consists of seven originally separate blazes, is the largest active wildfire in Central Texas. It has killed at least one person: Eastland County Sheriff’s Deputy Sergeant Barbara Fenley, who died while helping people evacuate, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service, the state’s lead agency for handling wildfires.
Since Sunday, firefighters have been able to contain 30 percent of the complex fire.
The Texas A&M Forest Service has warned that fires may worsen in some parts of Southwest Texas, specifically in areas near the cities of Del Rio, San Angelo, San Antonio and Laredo.
Over the past week, state, local and federal first responders have responded to 178 wildfires, which have burned a combined 108,493 acres across the state, the agency said in a statement Monday.
Powerful winds and dry grass contributed to the fires’ ability to spread so rapidly, Texas A&M Forest Service authorities said.
“The extreme conditions present across the state last week, greatly impacted several communities and the Texans that live there,” said Wes Moorehead, Texas A&M Forest Service Fire Chief. “These communities endured significant loss and we grieve with you.”
A combination of rising temperatures and less winter rainfall stemming from climate change could at least be partially to blame for the Texas wildfires’ severity, according to Flavio Lehner, climate scientist and assistant professor of earth and atmospheric science at Cornell University.
“At first sight, a lot of the ingredients of the Eastland Complex wildfire are consistent with increasing wildfire risk in other dry areas of the U.S. and the world: higher temperatures combined with a dry winter lead to quick drying of vegetation, which, once ignited, can grow rapidly into dangerous wildfires,” said Lehner in an email to Changing America.
“The key ingredient, however, are the strong winds, especially in an area with mostly shrubs… More fundamental research on changing precipitation, as well as how it connects to impacts on natural and human systems, is needed to provide more accurate answers.”
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