Texas wildfires kill 2 firefighters, destroy over 1 million acres

Texas wildfires kill 2 firefighters, destroy over 1 million acres

2011-04-21 07:39:01 GMT+7 (ICT)

AUSTIN, TEXAS (BNO NEWS) -- At least two people have died and around 1 million acres of land have been destroyed as there are now over 20 ongoing wildfires in north and west Texas, officials said Wednesday.

Volunteer firefighter Elias Jaquez, 49, died last night at University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, and last Friday, firefighter Gregory Simmons, 50, died just west of Fort Worth. Both men suffered burns from fighting the flames and later succumbed to their wounds.

The Texas Forest Service (TFS) released there latest report on Wednesday, saying 10 new fires were burning 2,184 acres of land, although the McPherson fire in Sutton County had been contained at 2,300 acres.

With 202 of the 254 Texas counties reporting burn bans, the state now has four Incident Management Teams engaged in managing wildfire response; the Lone Star State IMT (Merkel), the Southern Area Blue Team (Midland), the Southern Area Red Team (Mineral Wells) and the Florida Red Team (Lufkin).

In the Possum Kingdom Lake area, which is around 70 miles northwest of Fort Worth, at least 117 homes have already been destroyed, and as four wildfires merged into one, over 600 homes are now in danger of being reached by the flames.

According to the TFS, the service has responded to 810 fires this year that have burned 1.4 million acres, saving more than 5,570 structures, while 370 structures have been lost.

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