Perry: 'Devastating' Texas blazes out of control

BASTROP, Texas?? Calmer winds Tuesday should help firefighters battling a wildfire that has destroyed more than 1,000 homes in Central Texas and forced thousands of residents to evacuate to shelters to avoid the blaze, officials said.

But Gov. Rick Perry told NBC's TODAY that the fires were "a long way" from being under control and described the effect on people who had lost their homes as "devastating."

Texas Forest Service spokeswoman Victoria Koenig said it is too early to say how much progress was made fighting the wildfire in Bastrop County overnight, but that there were no winds early Tuesday. The fire enveloped at least 25,000 acres Monday.

"It's encouraging we don't have winds right now, not like yesterday," Koenig said early Tuesday morning.

Even with the encouraging conditions, Koenig said it was a "tough, tough fire" that was raging through rugged terrain, including a ridge of hills.

"You can still see the hills glowing quite a bit," she said.

At least 5,000 people were forced from their homes in Bastrop County about 25 miles east of Austin, the state capital, and about 400 were in emergency shelters, officials said Monday. School and school-related activities were canceled Tuesday.

And NBC-affiliate station KPRC reported Tuesday that about 8,000 people had been evacuated from their homes in the Magnolia area in Montgomery County, citing fire officials. At least 50 homes and one fire truck have burned, officials said.

Tina Dulaney packed up her car, grabbed her dogs and went to the shelter at Magnolia High School, the station reported.

"Pretty scared," she told KPRC. "You just don't know. The wind's not helping. I just have to wait and see."

Perry told TODAY that more than 50 large fires were burning across the state Tuesday, up from "somewhere in the 30s" the previous day. This number included only those blazes being dealt with by federal and state authorities, not "numerous" smaller fires handled by local fire departments, he added.

"For those families who have lost everything they had, homes, possessions etc, it has been devastating for them," he added. "We're getting our people out of the way of these fires. And that's the most important thing. Obviously we'll be dealing with the tragedy here for some time to come."

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He said some fires were "becoming really substantial."

"We're a long way from having these under control," Perry told TODAY.

He urged residents to follow evacuation orders and not put their lives in danger for the sake of their possessions. "I know leaving a home and possessions behind is a hard thing to do, but don't put lives in danger," he said.

Perry returned to Texas, cutting short a visit to South Carolina where he was campaigning for the Republican nomination for president.

He assured TODAY's Matt Lauer that he was able to deal with the fires while also running for president.

"Unfortunately in Texas, we have substantial natural disasters, whether its hurricanes, wildfires, floods, you name it, tornadoes, we've had to deal with them," Perry said.

More than 1,000 homes have burned in at least 57 wildfires across the state, most of them in the devastating blaze close to Austin that's still raging out of control, officials said.

Fanned in part by howling winds from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee, the Bastrop blaze rapidly grew Monday, racing through rain-starved farm and ranchland.

Winds in the area gusted up to 30 mph on Monday, but dropped overnight to around 5 mph and were only expected to get up to 10 mph by afternoon, said National Weather Service forecaster Orlando Bermudez.

Drought conditions
In Bastrop, a town of about 6,000 people along the Colorado River, huge clouds of smoke soared into the sky and hung over downtown Monday.

When winds picked up, flames flared over the tops of trees. Helicopters and planes loaded with water flew overhead, and firefighters along a state highway outside the city converged around homes catching fire.

"Waiting is the most frustrating thing," said Gina Thurman, 47, choking back tears as she sat by herself in the shade on a curb outside Ascension Catholic Church, one of several shelters in the area. "You're sitting there and you don't know anything but your house is probably burning."

Rick Blakely was among about 30 people sleeping on cots at the church. The 54-year-old said he was in a state of shock and "not expecting anything to be standing" when he returned to his home.

"I just don't know what I'm going to do," he said.

Story: Parched conditions fuel Southern Calif. wildfires

Strong winds coupled with drought conditions allowed the fire to travel quickly over somewhat hilly terrain, burning through pine and cedar trees and wiping out subdivisions as well as ranchland. Dry conditions were expected to persist at least through the week, according to the National Weather Service.

The fire was far enough away from Austin that the city was not threatened, but it consumed land along a line that stretched for about 16 miles, Texas Forest Service officials said.

The wildfire destroyed at least 476 homes, and about 250 firefighters were working around the clock using bulldozers and water trucks against the fire, Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, and officials said they knew of no residents trapped in their homes.

But the blaze was "nowhere near controlled" on Monday and a separate, smaller blaze south of the city was growing larger, said Mike Fischer, the county's emergency management director. It's unclear how the fire began.

Crews have responded to nearly 21,000 wildfires in Texas since the traditional fire season began early in the year. Outdoor burning, including campfires, is prohibited in all but three of the state's 254 counties.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44405434/ns/weather/

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