Raging Grass Fires Cut 50-Mile Swath in West Texas

Firefighters appealed for help from neighboring counties Friday as they battled a series of raging grass fires that seared a 50-mile swath across West Texas ranch land.

“The fire is out of control on all fronts,” the Shackelford County Sheriff’s office reported. “We’re pulling all our forces back in to protect homes.”

Winds whipped flames across three counties as crews shifted equipment between threatened ranch houses seven miles from Albany, northeast of Abilene.

Many smaller fires that had burned since Thursday were extinguished by Friday, but authorities said four or five large blazes continued to consume the oil and ranching area about 150 miles west of Dallas.

The fire had scorched an estimated 140,000 acres in Shackelford, Callahan and Throckmorton counties by Friday, authorities said, but there were no reports of serious injuries and most homes in the path of the flames were saved.

Twenty volunteer fire departments sent men and equipment on Friday, a day after Gov. Bill Clements ordered 90 Texas National Guardsmen to help battle the blaze. They joined nearly two dozen Forest Service firefighters and the crews of 15 fire other departments.

A spokesman said one of the fires may have started when someone was burning tires near the community of Clyde, while two others appeared to have started along a rural road and may have been caused by passing motorists.