Officials warned Texans that the weekend of dry weather and warm temperatures could encourage large wildfires, but late Saturday it appeared a standout blaze north of San Antonio spared life and home.
The Training Area 23 Fire at the U.S. Army’s Camp Bullis, part of Joint Base San Antonio, spread to 1,500 acres by Saturday evening and sent up a plume of smoke seen for miles, officials said.
But no deaths or injuries were reported, and no structures were said to be threatened.
But by evening residents of the Oak Ridge and Georg Oaks communities were told to leave, according to the Bexar-Bulverde Volunteer Fire Department.
The National Weather Service said regional temperatures Saturday were expected to soar into the low 90s, with gusty winds contributing to the elevated to critical fire weather.
Texas A&M Forest Service was part of a unified command with Joint Base San Antonio’s fire department, the service said: Its acreage estimate was paired with a containment figure of 5 percent.
The 502d Air Base Wing Public Affairs at Joint Base San Antonio said the blaze was finding fuel in the area of a demolition range at Camp Bullis.
The joint base occupies more than 27,000 acres of ranges, training areas, and wildlands, the public affairs unite said.
It was one of two active fires in the area covered by the National Weather Service office in New Braunfels, the agency said. The other blaze was in eastern Edwards County, the NWS said.
The service warned that “critical fire weather conditions” remained through Saturday night. But so far the state has been able to avoid a repeat of the late-winter wildfires that burned more than 54,000 acres.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
