Home Wire State More than 250 families in Bastrop asked to evacuate as fire spreads...

Texas Wildfire — Joe and Patricia Pullen, of Bastrop, watch a wildfire burn from Park Road 1C in Bastrop State Park on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022, in Bastrop, Texas. (Nell Carroll/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

More than 250 families in Bastrop asked to evacuate as fire spreads outside Texas state park

January 18, 2022

AUSTIN, Texas — More than 250 families in the path of the Rolling Pines fire in Bastrop County were asked to flee their homes Tuesday night, but local officials said no homes had been damaged so far. The fire, which has burned about 640 acres, grew quickly during the day’s windy conditions and is still only 10% contained.

A tree burns in Bastrop State park after a controlled burn became unmanageable on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022, in Bastrop, Texas. (Nell Carroll/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

Bastrop County and local fire management officials told reporters Tuesday night that while it was too early to conclusively determine the cause of the fire, it was likely linked to the planned 150-acre prescribed burn in Bastrop County State Park.

“We do think that it is likely that embers from the prescribed fire were the cause of the fire outside the park,” said Carter Smith, the executive director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The Texas parks department initiated the prescribed burn at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Smith said. It’s the second prescribed burn in Bastrop County State Park since the Bastrop Complex wildfire of 2011 that burned more than 34,000 acres and destroyed nearly 1,700 homes.

Bastrop county officials had previously warned local residents about wildfire risks, but Bastrop County Judge Paul Pape said fire management officials followed the criteria for prescribed burns.

“Based on everything they knew this morning, it was an appropriate day to burn,” Pape said. “None of us can predict the weather more than 15 minutes ahead of time, and sometimes things happen that we just don’t anticipate.”

Ron Brooks looks at a smoke billowing from a wildfire behind his house on Pine Hill Loop in Bastrop, Texas before evacuating on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. His house burned to the ground in the 2011 Bastrop Complex Fire. “Here we go again,” he said. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

The National Weather Service reported winds in the Austin area ranging from 15 to 25 mph with gusts ranging from 30 to 40 mph.

Dozens of Texas fire and public safety agencies were working to contain the fire and protect homes. Officials urged local residents to heed any evacuation orders and to avoid the area. The Elgin Recreation Center, 361 Texas 95, serves as a shelter for families and the Bastrop Senior Center was opened for first responders.

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative reported that the utility was asked by the Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management to “de-energize power lines serving 348 members in an area along Texas 21 to ensure the area is safe for emergency crews and residents.”