By David Kassabian and Mike Baird
Corpus Christi Caller-Times

PADRE ISLAND, Texas — Fireworks likely sparked a Padre Island brush fire that burned hundreds of acres late Wednesday through Thursday night, fire officials said.

Flour Bluff volunteer firefighters were the first to battle the fire, arriving about 11 p.m. at Beach Marker 283 about seven miles north of the National Seashore.

J.P. Hominick, a captain with the department, said firefighters left the scene about 6 a.m. with the fire thought to be extinguished but were called back two hours later after high winds re-ignited the blaze and caused it to spread north from Park Road 22 to the dunes.

Firefighters from Flour Bluff, the Ricardo Volunteer Fire Department and the Port Aransas Fire Department remained at the scene at 8 p.m. Thursday. However, the fire was nearly extinguished and there was no threat to buildings or other property, officials said.

A witness reported to authorities that someone was shooting off a Roman candle, said Luana Holloway, a dispatcher with the Flour Bluff Volunteer Fire Department. The chief of that department determined fireworks caused the fire, she said.

"It's burned hundreds of acres already," she said. "They're trying to keep it from going any farther north and from crossing the road."

It's the second grass fire in two days, as crews extinguished a field of flames south of Bob Hall Pier that was sparked Wednesday by a passing truck and trailer that was on fire. That fire burned about 100 acres.

Dry and dormant vegetation across South Texas creates an elevated risk of fire through the end of December and into at least the first week of January, according to the National Weather Service.

Burn bans are in effect for Nueces, Kleberg, Bee, Jim Wells and San Patricio counties, according to the weather service.

Some counties also have restricted aerial fireworks, which increase accidental fire risks. Bee, Duval, Goliad, Jim Wells, Kleberg, Live Oak and Refugio counties have established such restrictions. Fires and fireworks also have been banned at Padre Island National Seashore through Jan. 1 as a precaution.

Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal said a new state law that went into effect this year blocked officials from enacting an aerial fireworks ban in time for the New Year's fireworks season.

Now, aerial fireworks bans only may be put in place if the average burn index for a county exceeds a threshold and the ban is enacted by Dec. 15.

There was no deadline or minimum threshold requirement before this year, and readings from Nueces County were close to the threshold but never passed it before Dec. 15, Neal said.

"We're sitting here with our hands tied," he said. "When the legislature built the time frame and minimum reading into the statute, they took all the flexibility away from the court."

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