The Associated Press
BROWNWOOD, Texas — Firefighters from more than a dozen agencies on Monday were battling to stop a 700-acre wildfire as it came within a mile of about 2,000 homes on a hot and windy day, officials said.
Two volunteer firefighters were taken to the hospital for heat exhaustion, said Mary Kay Hicks, a Texas Forest Service spokeswoman. No other injuries or structural damage were immediately reported.
The blaze was about 30 percent contained by late Monday afternoon, Hicks said. It’s unclear how the fire started at Camp Bowie, a Texas Army National Guard training facility in Brownwood, she said.
Firefighters were using various pieces of machinery and equipment, including bulldozers, helicopters and air tankers, to try to stop the flames from spreading and extinguish them, Hicks said.
Also in West Texas, a 315-acre fire initially threatened three homes in Crockett County south of Ozona before crews started getting it under control Monday afternoon, said D.L. Wilkerson, a Texas Forest Service spokesman.
By early Monday evening, crews had contained 90 percent of a 1,500-acre wildfire in western Brewster County and 95 percent of a 90-acre fire in the eastern part of the county; and 90 percent of a 1,090-acre blaze in Potter County, according to the Texas Forest Service.
Firefighters had extinguished all of a 625-acre blaze in Schleicher County and all of a 400-acre fire in Clay County.