Infernos in 2 BV communities rage on
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The remains of a deer lease cabin on the Farris Ranch off County Road 440 in Leon County burns along with several vehicles and other property lost to the huge wildfire Monday near Flynn.
A lone firefighter makes his way over a barbed-wire fence while battling the blaze.
Eagle Staff Report
FLYNN — A small Leon County region continued late Monday to be clutched by an inferno that consumed 16 homes, a church, cemetery and more than 15 other structures.
Most of the damage near Flynn, 12 miles southwest of Centerville, and in Concord, 10 miles northwest of the county seat, unfolded within hours of the blaze starting at about 2 p.m. Sunday. An estimated 350 residences were evacuated over two days, but major thoroughfares, including F.M. 39 and Texas 7, opened up late on Labor Day after firefighters contained the flames to about 3,660 acres.
Meanwhile, about 80 miles southwest of the destruction was another Brazos Valley community devastated by a wildfire that started Monday afternoon in Montgomery County and spread across F.M. 1774 into Grimes, spanning more than 1,500 acres by late evening.
About 8,000 residences in Magnolia near the Montgomery and Waller county line were being ordered to evacuate late Monday.
About 50 firefighters took on the fire that hopscotched across the Lake Holly Hills subdivision in the southern part of the county, devouring at least one home and a barn south of County Road 302 and north of Riley Road. About 200 to 300 Grimes residents were evacuated from 60 residences by 5 p.m.
The fire, which was south of Todd Mission and the Renaissance Festival grounds, shut down F.M. 1774 from County Road 302 into Magnolia in Montgomery County where the blaze continued to spread late Monday. The northern part of Waller County near the Montgomery line also was at risk, officials said, adding that all homes between F.M. 1774 and F.M. 1486 were asked to seek shelter elsewhere.
Magnolia High School, 14350 F.M. 1488, is set up for evacuees. The schools in Magnolia will be closed Tuesday.
Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell said a shelter is set up at the Grimes County Fairgrounds off F.M. 3455 in Navasota, but it wasn’t clear how many people had signed in.
Tropical Storm Lee’s menacing winds of up to 40 mph Sunday slowed down to about 10 mph late Monday, giving those battling the fires across the region a needed reprieve.
“Since the wind died down, that’s allowed the firefighters to make some progress,” said Bob Hickman, assistant emergency management coordinator for Leon County, adding that residents in Hilltop Lakes were notified that they might be evacuated.
He said workers with the Texas Forest Service brought bulldozers in and dug a perimeter around the wildfire to keep it from spreading. The state agency also flew in helicopters that dropped fire retardant on wildfires in both Grimes and Leon counties.
Leon County fire
A dispatcher with the Leon County Sheriff’s Department said those state workers were ordered to leave the area to help out a 27,000-plus acre fire ravaging Bastrop. Almost 500 homes were destroyed by the fury that started at about 2:30 Sunday. Within 24 hours, 5,000 people were evacuated and 16 miles of flames had erased entire neighborhoods, along with half of the state forest off Texas 21.
Some were saying it was the most devastating firestorm to ever hit Texas.