West Texas Fires Update
Seven days after areas of West Texas started burning, it seems that emergency workers have the majority of a large Ft. Davis-region fire contained. Working tirelessly since Saturday, firefighters from all across the state descended upon Presidio and Jeff Davis Counties to battle the so-called Rockhouse fire. The high winds and drought-like conditions of West Texas made battling the already rampant fire even harder and by the time it was contained, it had burned over 100,000 acres, destroying buildings, incinerating crops and killing livestock. Luckily, no one has died as a result of this fire.
It is believed that the wildfire ignited in an abandoned Marfa rock house. According to the Big Bend Sentinel, investigators are unsure of exactly how the fire started, though rumors of its inception are already running rampant.
The Texas Forest Service has an update on all the current wildfires raging in the state, and warns that wildfire conditions are expected to get worse -- now the region at risk includes "all areas west of a line curving down from just west of Dallas-Fort Worth to Fredericksburg to Del Rio."
Make sure to check out the poignant coverage by the writers over at the Big Bend Sentinel and the just as heartbreaking photo essay Texas Monthly has produced. But be forewarned, some of the images may be difficult to view.
