More than 30 homes destroyed in Bastrop County fire, state of emergency declared

Smithville resident David Parrott consoles his weary and sleep-deprived mother, Sherry, over the loss of Sherry's home while awaiting to enter a shelter set up at the Smithville Recreation Center on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015. Like the Parrotts, Bastrop County residents have dealt with evacuating their homes due to the Hidden Pines Fire. Firefighters continue to contain the flames that have now spread to more than 4,200 acres in Bastrop County according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. (Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News) less Smithville resident David Parrott consoles his weary and sleep-deprived mother, Sherry, over the loss of Sherry's home while awaiting to enter a shelter set up at the Smithville Recreation Center on Thursday, ... more Photo: Kin Man Hui, Staff / San Antonio Express-News Photo: Kin Man Hui, Staff / San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 189 Caption Close More than 30 homes destroyed in Bastrop County fire, state of emergency declared 1 / 189 Back to Gallery

SMITHVILLE — The Bastrop County Sheriff's Department said Thursday evening that more than 30 homes have been destroyed by a wildfire that began Tuesday, but that 25 percent of it had been contained.

Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster for Bastrop County Thursday after getting a briefing on the fires that have burned more than 4,300 acres and forced the evacuation of about 400 homes.

Abbott said resources are being added to fight the fires, which ignited Tuesday morning in Smithville, near Buescher State Park — about 45 miles east of Austin.

“So far we have been very fortunate in this fire in that no person has lost their life. We want to conclude this fire by being able to say the same thing,” Abbott said.

RELATED: Photos shows the devastation of the Bastrop wildfire of 2011

Texas’ military will add two more Black Hawk helicopters and two more Chinooks to the efforts, he said, adding that he is “very, very thankful” to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for quickly approving a fire management assistance grant to Texas.

At 3 p.m., the Bastrop County Sheriff's Department estimated that the fire had burned more than 4,300 acres and was 15 percent contained, down from estimates earlier in the day. They said 400 homes remained evacuated.

Four years ago, when the wildfire swept through the piney woods south of Bastrop, Anne Smarzik said she lost "almost 98 percent" of the trees around her home. This time, she lost the house.

RELATED: How Bastrop State Park looked in 2012

"We didn't think the house would be in danger this time," she said Thursday, after being told by a firefighter who is a neighbor that her home had burned.

She evacuated Wednesday afternoon as the new fire picked up steam, and stayed in a hotel overnight hoping to return once the fire was out.

"We got out with only the clothes on our backs — and our dog. That's all," she said, choking back tears. "I just don't think I can talk about it. I just can't think about it right now."

In Bastrop, Brian Bristow of Luling waited at a convenience store with a pickup loaded with furniture and black garbage bags filled with household goods and personal belongings from his sister's house. It sat in a likely path of the fire just off Texas 21 near Bastrop State Park, east of town.

"I came in last night and loaded everything up for them," he explained. "I'm just waiting to see which way the fire's going to move."

By mid-afternoon, the heavy smoke that overnight and into the morning had been like a heavy brownish fog across the highway between Bastrop and Paige had lifted, as a slight southeasterly breeze picked up. Earlier in the day, some residents of the affected area southwest of Bastrop could be seen wearing bandanas and surgical masks over their mouths due to the smoke.

Ahead of the fire, residents were poised to evacuate should the flames come towards them – as officials said they expected.

“When I came home (last night) and saw the red glow in the sky, I knew it was time to pack,” said Donna Cunningham, who lives south of Paige, in an area east of Bastrop that officials said was in the path of the fire. “We’re packed. The dog containers are in the car. I stayed home, at least for now, because I didn’t know what was going to happen this morning. We’re ready to go if we have to.”

She said her husband works at the M.D. Anderson cancer research center that was evacuated Tuesday. It remained closed Thursday morning, officials said.

“If the wind shifts the way they say it’s going to, we’re out,” said Kari Trahan, who lives with her sister near Bastrop State Park, in an area generally left untouched by the 2011 wildfire that made national headlines. She, too, was packed and ready to drive to Austin “the minute the winds shift to the north.”

Like Cunningham and other residents in the area, Trahan said brush was cleared a distance away from their home. “But this is in piney woods, and piney woods burn when a fire gets going,” she said, “so it is what it is.”

“We asked ourselves last night: Is the Fire God coming back to get what it didn’t burn four years ago?” she said by phone this morning. “A lot of the neighbors took off already to get away from the smoke. We’re probably next.”

Bastrop was the scene of the worst fire in recorded state history in 2011, when more than 30,000 acres burned and more than 1,200 homes were destroyed.

Much of Central Texas is under an elevated fire warning from the National Weather Service and most counties in the state, including Bastrop and Bexar, are under a burn ban.

Several agencies, including at least six local volunteer fire crews, Texas A&M Forest Service, Lower Colorado River Authority, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, National Guard, Texas Department of Public Safety and Bastrop Emergency Management have been involved in the operation.

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