Martin County Wildfire Put Out, 400 Acres Burned
By: Dylan Brooks
Updated: March 2, 2011
MARTIN COUNTY -- Days after wildfires ravaged West Texas, Martin County dealt with another massive fire Tuesday.
This blaze broke out near F.M. 846 west of Knott Tuesday afternoon. Sparks from a welding crew that was working on pipes in the area started the blaze. It quickly spread to a draw full of salt cedar, and that plant helped the blaze expand.
"With the fires Sunday over from Andrews into our county and this fire, one little spark from a chain bouncing off the highway, somebody throwing a cigarette out, welders spark -- it could start if the winds are blowing," Morgan Cox of the Lenorah Volunteer Fire Department told Big 2. "It's a raging inferno."
Big 2's crew on the scene also said that there was alternating white and black smoke coming from the blaze Tuesday afternoon. Parts of F.M 846 and several nearby roads were closed because of the fire and smoke for several hours, although all those roads are now open.
Firefighters were able to get the blaze out by around 6:30 PM Tuesday. They were still on scene to check on hot spots, but all roads were reopened. Crews had to do a back-burn to keep the fire away from some homes, and that back-burn created even more smoke.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office tells Big 2 that they didn't know how many acres the fire has consumed, but crews had been battling the blaze on the scene all afternoon. Firefighters on the scene estimate that around 400 acres were burned.
Fortunately, no one was hurt and no structures were threatened.
This blaze broke out near F.M. 846 west of Knott Tuesday afternoon. Sparks from a welding crew that was working on pipes in the area started the blaze. It quickly spread to a draw full of salt cedar, and that plant helped the blaze expand.
"With the fires Sunday over from Andrews into our county and this fire, one little spark from a chain bouncing off the highway, somebody throwing a cigarette out, welders spark -- it could start if the winds are blowing," Morgan Cox of the Lenorah Volunteer Fire Department told Big 2. "It's a raging inferno."
Big 2's crew on the scene also said that there was alternating white and black smoke coming from the blaze Tuesday afternoon. Parts of F.M 846 and several nearby roads were closed because of the fire and smoke for several hours, although all those roads are now open.
Firefighters were able to get the blaze out by around 6:30 PM Tuesday. They were still on scene to check on hot spots, but all roads were reopened. Crews had to do a back-burn to keep the fire away from some homes, and that back-burn created even more smoke.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office tells Big 2 that they didn't know how many acres the fire has consumed, but crews had been battling the blaze on the scene all afternoon. Firefighters on the scene estimate that around 400 acres were burned.
Fortunately, no one was hurt and no structures were threatened.
