Diaz, who used to live in Austin, bought his home after the fires, says he spends a lot of time clearing of vegetation around the property to keep a potential fire from happening. The worst damage was in Bastrop, where two smaller fires joined to form a monster blaze that has destroyed more than 1,550 homes and charred more than 34,000 acres. McPhaul's home was one of the few left in the neighborhood after the fire. She was not stationed at the park the year of the fire, but returned about a year after the blaze, serving as park superintendent. Texans are using prescribed fire more than ever to manage land and mitigate wildfires. Linda Strong, right, says goodbye to her sister-in-law, Nancy Thomas, of Pharr, after spending the morning together with several family members looking for salvageable items in Strong's destroyed home in Bluebonnet Acres, which was burned by the Union Chapel Fire on the west side of Bastrop, on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011. He and Emily have thought of moving themselves from their house of 45 years, but have not found a house that’s just right. Last updated: 4/17/2020 About. ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) -- The Round Rock Police Department has arrested a man in connection to a string of mail box thefts near the Hermitage area -- northwest of Round Rock. They moved the operation from a small emergency center to a convention center, where they hunkered down and “spent our lives” for the following weeks, McDonald said.

If you need help with the Public File, call (713) 778-4745. The Tri-County wildfire, which started in Grimes County before spreading to Montgomery and Waller counties, was also historic and started the day after the Bastrop fire. For Texas, that meant “warmer than normal during the winter months, and drier than normal during the winter months,” Smith said.

High temperatures and erratic winds initially made controlling what’s being referred to as the Blue Creek Fire a challenge, officials said. A nexus of drought, consistent development and profound changes in the way Texas land is used has pushed the state into a new era of firefighting, one marked by combatting bigger fires that are more threatening and damaging.

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By signing up you agree to our privacy policy, Stand with us in our mission to discover and uncover the story of North Texas. A massive fire broke out at a plastic plant in the US state of Texas, officials said, adding that the blaze was likely to burn for days.

A charred tree remains as wildflowers grow around it in Bastrop State Park in Bastrop, Texas on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020. Wildfires in Texas are nothing new. Woods said the Round Rock Fire Department were unable to assist as they were dealing with two house fires at the time. It spread across nearly 20,000 acres and destroyed 73 homes. Greg Abbott says ‘We must end’ mail-in ballot fraud, points to KXAN investigation finding 150 charges since 2004. A fire broke out Friday on the Renaissance Festival grounds, according to a festival representative. Some of the new trees have reached heights of 30 feet. The Long Island native and Northeastern grad also helped with coverage of the wildfires and coronavirus. John McPhaul stands were a large tree once stood in his yard, but was taken down after fire damage in the Tahitian Village neighborhood in Bastrop on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020. John and Emily McPhaul's home was one of the only one from the 2011 fire that raged through the Tahitian Village neighborhood in Bastrop on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020. in Bastrop on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020. In his free time, he likes to play guitar, read and hike. It won’t be a repeat of 2011, which was particularly dry and hot, including along the Texas 35 corridor toward Houston as well as north of the city near Conroe and Montgomery County. The claim: Texas has more forestland than California but zero fires. “It was a time I remember of being associated with a lot of fine people.”. This includes 16 fires that have burned 104 acres recently. Several large wildfires have been devastating Bastrop County for the last two days. The two had moved their most-coveted possessions to vaults in a bank weeks before, nodding to the inevitable after a particularly dry, hot year.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. "I'm trying to find sentimental stuff," Sherri Edwards says as she digs through the ruins of her home of 14 years in Bluebonnet Acres, which was burned by the Union Chapel Fire on the west side of Bastrop, on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011. A major wildfire in Texas started in Crockett County on April 19, 2020. January 28, 2020. Meanwhile, a KXAN viewer sent us this video of a house fire in the Westwind subdivision in Elgin.

Photo: LISA KRANTZ, STAFF / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS. Amanda Cochran, Specialty Senior Content Editor. Jamie Creacy, Superintendent of Bastrop and Buescher State Parks, opens up one of the cabins built in Bastrop State Park by the CCC on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020. Hot, dry weather and underlying drought conditions raise concerns for wildfires as Texas enters the late summer fire season. He cut it and now walks past the vague outline of where its trunk once pierced through the ground. Neighbors and the homeowner reportedly heard a “loud boom” just minutes before the back of the home caught fire. All that now remains of that neighbor’s home is a slab of concrete that once was the home’s driveway. Nine years after the Bastrop County Complex Fire ripped through this Central Texas community, incinerating more than 1,600 homes, killing two people and cremating swaths of a state park, the memories of the day that the fire broke out remain seared in the minds of McPhaul and other residents. The park has been working more towards land management so that another fire doesn't rage through. That followed an extended period of drying during which rain eluded Central and East Texas. 2020; 2019; 2018; 2017; 2016; Fires in Texas Pocket - Quick (wallet-size) Reference Card (When printing, choose "2-Sided Print, Flip on Short Edge" option).

It is one of about 150 trees he lost.

Now, from the same overlook, Creacy can look past the skeletons of dead pines that were consumed then and have not fallen over and see Texas highways 21 and 71. An Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist, Amanda Cochran is a Houston transplant from New York City who has embraced her new city with both arms -- living and breathing news and all things Texas. When Jamie Creacy first started working at Bastrop State Park in 2004, she literally couldn’t see the forest for the trees. He loaded essentials — mostly clothes — into his pick-up truck and left.