Crews hope for progress against fires

EASTLAND, Texas – Fire crews in Texas hoped to make progress Saturday against a massive complex of wildfires that have killed one person and burned at least 50 homes, officials said.

Winds were expected to diminish on Saturday, raising hopes for the attack on the flames, said Angel Lopez, a spokesman for the task force attacking the wildfire complex near Eastland, about 120 miles west of Dallas.

However, gusty winds were expected to return Sunday, again raising the wildfire threat to critical levels in western and central Texas, he said.

At a news conference in Eastland, Gov. Greg Abbott said late Friday that at least 50 homes had been destroyed by flames with more possibly to be found. He declared a disaster in the 11 counties hardest hit by wildfires. The Texas A&M Forest Services warned that fires could also affect parts of Oklahoma and Kansas, and Nebraska warned of an extreme fire risk.

The Eastland County Sheriff’s Office released more details on the death of Deputy Sgt. Barbara Fenley. In a statement, the office said she was going door to door, getting residents to evacuate their homes Thursday and it was “last heard that she was going to check on an elderly individual.”

“With the extreme deteriorating conditions and low visibility from smoke, Sgt. Fenley ran off the roadway and was engulfed in the fire,” the sheriff ’s statement said.

As of Friday afternoon, the fires had burned about 130 square miles, about 70 square miles in the Eastland Complex alone, according to Texas A&M Forest Service.