ROLLING PINES FIRE 70% CONTAINED; OVER 800 ACRES BURNED
Firefighters continue to work to control the Rolling Pines Fire in Bastrop County.
According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, the fire has grown to 812 acres and is 70 percent contained as of Thursday afternoon. Officials said the increase in acreage is due to more accurate mapping, and that fire crews have constructed a total of 6.2 miles of containment line.
Bastrop County emergency management officials said fire behavior continues to be low in the area, with scattered heavy wooden debris smoldering. Due to decreased intensity, crews will begin reducing the number of staff working on the fire.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said on Tuesday that it started a prescribed fire at Bastrop State Park that “spread beyond the intended fire boundaries.”
The Forest Service said the fire was initially very active, immediately threatening over 100 homes and leading to the evacuation of an estimated 250 citizens to shelters in Bastrop and Elgin.
Evacuations have since been lifted, and so far, no injuries or damage to residential structures have been reported.
Let us hope an INDEPENDENT investigation is held into this. This fire was started by TPWS as a controlled burn, but rapidly grew out of control. This should not have happened, and we the public need to know what happened, so steps can be taken to prevent this in the future. Plus some heads should roll for their ineptitude.