Wildfire Onslaught Spurs Texas to Seek Disaster Aid

Fueled by a late-winter heat wave and fanned by bone-dry winds, dozens of wildfires continued their blistering march across the Texas grasslands Thursday, leading Gov. George W. Bush to request that the entire state be declared a federal disaster area.

Since the beginning of the year, Texas has been erupting like a giant tinderbox, with state emergency officials reporting more than 2,900 blazes--nearly double the 1995 total. So far, more than 78,000 acres have been charred, mostly in rural counties, from the parched prairies of west Texas to the dense forests of the east.

“It’s really hard to say how many fires are even burning at this time,” said Jo Schweikhard Moss, spokeswoman for the state Division of Emergency Management. “Yesterday, we had four dozen. But it’s changing so constantly right now.”

The latest hot spot is Poolville, a small community about 35 miles northwest of Fort Worth, where flames have charred more than 16,000 acres, damaged 90 structures and injured at least 49 people, most of them firefighters. Before flying over the burn zone Thursday, Bush called on Texas National Guard troops and U.S. Forest Service air tankers to help battle the blaze, which was 70% controlled by the evening.

“We are in an extremely dangerous situation,” Bush said, adding that the state has been spending about $350,000 a day to fight the flames. “We’re pouring manpower and equipment as best as we possibly can.”

Linda Dixon, who ranches on a small spread in Poolville with her husband and 3-year-old son, told the Associated Press that their home was consumed in a matter of seconds. “There’s nothing left. Nothing,” she said, standing ankle-deep in the ashes. The family turned its cattle and hogs loose to fend for themselves.

“It’s about all you can do,” she said. “The flames were just everywhere. The heat was just so intense.”

But no single fire has remained in the forefront for long. Emergency officials say it is the sheer quantity, not the intensity, of the blazes that has stretched resources so thin. In Houston, for instance, firefighters have battled 476 grass fires since Feb. 1--about as many as might be reported in a normal five-month period. In the unincorporated county areas surrounding Houston, 86 fires were reported in just one 24-hour shift this week.

Many of the state’s fires remain under investigation, although officials say it does not appear that arson is a common thread. The culprit, in most cases, is the unseasonable weather, which has sapped Texas of its legendary humidity and left behind a dehydrated landscape.

Rainfall has been scarce so far this year, while bitter cold in January killed vegetation in much of the state. When temperatures soared to record highs this week--hitting the 90s in many places that recently had been frozen solid--the recipe for wildfire was complete.

“The tiniest spark--from a welding torch, a careless cigarette, an untended barbecue--that’s all it takes,” said Moss, adding that 75 of Texas’ 254 counties have now instituted temporary bans on outdoor burning.

Forecasters were calling for slightly cooler temperatures and a slim chance of rain this weekend, but there was little hope that conditions would turn in firefighters’ favor anytime soon. In the meantime, officials were bracing for more blazes.

“‘We’ve got heat . . . winds and the dry grass with no rain,” said Randy Renois of the Tarrant County Fire Department in Fort Worth, “so I’m sure we’ll have several pop up again today.”