FORT DAVIS A community reeling from fires that ravaged 23 homes and two businesses in a matter of hours was still fighting the blazes Tuesday afternoon.

Firefighters from around the state were in the mountains just north of Fort Davis all night and throughout the day trying to keep the northward-pushing fire from threatening the McDonald Observatory.

Oscar Mestas, spokesman for the Texas Forest Service, said the fire was 60 percent contained as of Tuesday afternoon, a large jump from the 10 percent that was reported Monday night.

He also said the number of acres burned has remained fairly consistent at about 100,000 acres, but he anticipates that number will go up.

Jim Fowler, a firefighter with the Fort Davis Volunteer Fire Department, said the department initially got the call to help with the fire in Marfa and quickly realized it was out of control.

“Any structures that started burning, we abandoned them,” he said. “We didn’t even try to fight them because there were so many.

“There’s no way we can fight this size fire with local resources.”

Fowler said the area has had large fires before, but none this large.

In 2008, Fort Davis had a 50,000-acre grassfire, but the area burned was primarily ranchland, he said.

This fire was the worst he’s ever seen, Fowler said.

“With a fire this size, firefighters don’t put out the fire,” he said. “Mother nature does. We assist her.”

The fires remain so large, Odessa spokeswoman Andrea Goodson sent a news release advising residents that smoke seen in Odessa was not from fires near the city, and instead is probably from Fort Davis and Pecos County fires.

The latter fire was 6,000 acres at last report, and caused the temporary closure of several roads Tuesday, including Interstate 10.