A helicopter drops a bucket to gather water to battle the Pauline Road wildfire on March 20 in Cleveland, Tex.David J. Phillip/The Associated Press
Wildfires fuelled by dry conditions and gusting winds burned in a few Southern states Thursday, forcing evacuations in Texas and prompting Florida officials to close part of a major highway with spring break in high gear.
A wildfire in Sam Houston National Forest near Houston prompted the evacuation of about 900 homes and closed schools. The National Weather Service issued elevated fire warnings around the nation’s fourth-largest city.
The fire, which started Wednesday, had burned about 3.7 square miles (9.6 square kilometres) and was only about 20% contained Thursday afternoon as firefighters used water-carrying helicopters to douse hot spots and bulldozers to dig containment lines, the Texas A&M Forest Service said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or property damage, but the Cleveland Independent School District, which has about 12,000 students, cancelled classes as a precaution.
Firefighters and law enforcement “did an such unbelievable job yesterday in protecting homes, animals, livestock and people. We’ve lost basically nothing, which is hard to believe,” the county’s top elected official, Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough, said.
However, he said, expected wind gusts Thursday along with a drop in humidity could make the situation disastrous.
“We’re asking the people who evacuated last night to stay still away from their homes,” Keough said.
Aerial video shows a wildfire near Houston that has caused officials to order evacuations of hundreds of homes and close some schools.
The Associated Press
In the Florida Keys, a large brush fire that began Tuesday caused authorities to close the two roads leading in and out of the island chain, because of smoky conditions and to allow firefighters to move equipment.
Officials said the fire had burned about 34 square miles (88 square kilometres) and was about 20% contained.
Spring break is in full swing in Florida, and officials said U.S. 1, the major thoroughfare that connects the mainland to the islands, was expected to have intermittent closures in the coming days. It is also a heavily travelled road for people who live on the mainland and work at many of the hotels and restaurants in Key Largo and beyond.
In Arkansas, crews responded to nearly than 100 fires Wednesday that were fuelled by high winds and were dealing with five new ones Thursday.
The fires closed several highways, including a portion of Interstate 530 southeast of Little Rock due to heavy smoke.
Flames damaged structures in several cities, including Little Rock. The roof collapsed at St. Joseph’s, a 115-year-old building in North Little Rock that once served as an orphanage and is now the home of a nonprofit that provides urban farming resources.
Crews responded to dozens of fires in Arkansas, where strong winds added to the wildfire risk. The National Weather Service said the state's midsection saw wind gusts as high as 59 mph this week.
The Associated Press
The South has experienced recent cold and dry conditions, followed by gusting winds, that have fanned the flames.
Texas has seen fire hazards range from the far northern Panhandle, where ground vegetation froze and dried out, and push hundreds of miles east to the coast.
South Florida has seen every little rainfall over the past few weeks. The rainy season doesn’t start until sometime around mid-May. Another cold front with dry air is expected to push through South Florida on Thursday night, said meteorologist Donal Harrigan with the National Weather Service in Miami.
The weather service issued Red Flag warnings for fire conditions in east Texas and South Florida and could extend them for several days.
Red flag warnings are issued by the National Weather Service when conditions are ripe for fires. In southeast Texas, weather service officials predicted wind gusts of 25 miles per hour (40 kilometres an hour), combined with humidity as low as 18%. That combination will continue to dry out vegetation.