The Spokesman Review
DALLAS — A woman and her 18-month-old daughter were killed Sunday when their East Texas trailer home was engulfed by flames, and thousands of acres across parts of the state continued to burn from wildfires authorities blamed partly on the high winds caused by Tropical Storm Lee.
The 20-year-old woman and her child had no chance to escape as a wall of flames ravaged their neighborhood and ultimately their home, Gregg County Sheriff Maxey Cerliano said.
The neighborhood near the community of Gladewater is about 120 miles east of Dallas and 60 miles west of Shreveport, La. It was just one of several hit as dozens of fires spread rapidly across the area. Texas Forest Service officials estimated some 1,400 acres were burned in that area alone, destroying homes, barns and vehicles, and thousands of other acres were scorched in other parts of the state.
“We’ve completely depleted our resources,” Melanie Spradling, a public information officer with the Texas Forestry Service, told the Morning Telegraph. “We’re on every fire we can possibly handle and then some.”
Copyright 2011 Spokane Spokesman-Review